pacifist

American  

[pas-uh-fist] / ˈpæs ə fɪst /

noun

1. a person who believes in pacifism or is opposed to war or to violence of any kind.

2. a person whose personal belief in pacifism causes them to refuse being drafted into military service.

---

adjective

1. pacifistic.

ˈpacifist British  

/ ˈpæsɪfɪst /

noun

1. a person who supports pacifism

2. a person who refuses military service

---

adjective

1. advocating, relating to, or characterized by pacifism

Other Word Forms

• antipacifist noun
• nonpacifist noun
• propacifist noun
• semipacifist adjective
• unpacifist adjective

Etymology

Origin of pacifist

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

Example Sentences

After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Germany dropped a long-standing pacifist tradition shaped by its dark World War II past and started ramping up spending to overhaul the armed forces.

From Barron's

After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Germany dropped a long-standing pacifist tradition and started ramping up spending to overhaul its long underfunded armed forces.

From Barron's

For an animated feature, “Scarlet” is unusually ambitious: It’s a “Hamlet”-adjacent existential pacifist revenge parable.

From The Wall Street Journal

Criticized by Yankee pacifists for resorting to violence, Clay replied, “how then can you ask me to go unarmed and yet manfully vindicate those doctrines which every where have been denounced with death?”

From The Wall Street Journal

As a lifelong pacifist, Senesh was hardly an obvious choice as a freedom fighter.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• peacemaker