pacifist

[pas-uh-fist]

See more synonyms for pacifist on Thesaurus.com

noun

a person who believes in pacifism or is opposed to war or to violence of any kind.
a person whose personal belief in pacifism causes him or her to refuse being drafted into military service.Compare conscientious objector.

adjective

pacifistic.

Origin of pacifist

From the French word pacifiste, dating back to 1905–10. See pacific, -ist

Related formsan·ti·pac·i·fist, noun, adjectivenon·pac·i·fist, nounpro·pac·i·fist, noun, adjectivesem·i·pac·i·fist, adjective, nounun·pac·i·fist, adjective

Can be confusedactivist pacifist passivist

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

peacemaker Dove peacenik

Examples from the Web for pacifist

Contemporary Examples

And the ones protesting the loudest may be the war-mongering men forced into pacifist celibacy.
Japanese Women Tell Their Men They Have to Choose Between Love and War
Jake Adelstein, Angela Erika Kubo
May 14, 2014
He had a weakness for fine clothes and good-looking women, and he certainly was no pacifist.
Mandela: The Miracle Maker
Sam Seibert
December 5, 2013
A veteran hawk, Prime Minister Abe wants to strengthen Japan, even review its pacifist constitution.
Japan’s Anti-Nuclear Activists Losing Ground Since Fukushima Disaster
Lennox Samuels
March 18, 2013
In their decision they wrote that there was some chance I was a pacifist after all.
My Story As a Pacifist in Israel
Jonathan Ben-Artzi
August 16, 2012
Though a pacifist and Liberal party mayoral candidate, he was smeared as a “medic to guerrillas.”
Hector Abad On “Oblivion: A Memoir,” a Memorial to His Murdered Father
Maya Jaggi
April 27, 2012

Historical Examples

There is no place for the pacifist in the minds of these apologists of the heroic order.
The Psychology of Nations
G.E. Partridge
No statement of this kind is unbiased, for the pacifist has his own bias.
The Better Germany in War Time
Harold Picton
Every human being with common sense was a pacifist when the war started.
The Devil's Paw
E. Phillips Oppenheim
A man can be a pacifist all right until his head has been punched.
The Devil's Paw
E. Phillips Oppenheim
We have no knowledge of pacifist utterances of representative Germans of any time.
Gems (?) of German Thought
Various

British Dictionary definitions for pacifist

pacifist

noun

a person who supports pacifism
a person who refuses military service

adjective

advocating, relating to, or characterized by pacifism

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for pacifist

n.

1903, from French pacifiste (see pacifism). Related: Pacifistic (1902).

pacifist

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Related Words

Examples from the Web for pacifist

Contemporary Examples

And the ones protesting the loudest may be the war-mongering men forced into pacifist celibacy.

He had a weakness for fine clothes and good-looking women, and he certainly was no pacifist.

A veteran hawk, Prime Minister Abe wants to strengthen Japan, even review its pacifist constitution.

In their decision they wrote that there was some chance I was a pacifist after all.

Though a pacifist and Liberal party mayoral candidate, he was smeared as a “medic to guerrillas.”

Historical Examples

There is no place for the pacifist in the minds of these apologists of the heroic order.

No statement of this kind is unbiased, for the pacifist has his own bias.

Every human being with common sense was a pacifist when the war started.

A man can be a pacifist all right until his head has been punched.

We have no knowledge of pacifist utterances of representative Germans of any time.

pacifist

Word Origin and History for pacifist

n.

Origin of pacifist