noun
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a person who supports pacifism
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a person who refuses military service
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of pacifist
From the French word pacifiste, dating back to 1905–10. See pacific, -ist
Explanation
A person who opposes the use of war or violence to settle a dispute is called a pacifist. If you are a pacifist, you talk through your differences with others instead of fighting. A pacifist is a peacemaker — even its Latin origins of pax, or "peace" and facere, "to make" show it. If you are a pacifist, you avoid physical confrontations. The beliefs and actions of peacemakers can also be described as pacifist, as in someone whose pacifist beliefs lead him to take part in nonviolent protests against a war.
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
She used to consider herself a pacifist, and saw weapons purely as instruments of pain and destruction.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
Nimbly, it manages to be both a pacifist film and a subversive one with no faith in the system as it stands.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
They have also unnerved survivors of the 1945 bombings, who have long helped shape Japan's post-war pacifist political culture.
From Barron's ● Aug. 9, 2026
Miyazaki is a noted pacifist, but “Princess Mononoke” is his most humanist work.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026
She was a committed pacifist, but she was receiving pressure from constituents who wanted her to support the president’s call to arms.
From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling
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 ● Dec. 3, 2025
The league specifically targeted suspected German sympathizers, socialists, labor activists and pacifists.
From Salon ● Dec. 4, 2024
The Amish are pacifists, he hastened to add.
From New York Times ● Nov. 23, 2024
"These people are not pacifists; they have intentionally or otherwise become pawns of the aggressor," Wang wrote.
From Reuters ● Oct. 12, 2023
As pacifists, many Quaker men refused to vote, as a protest against government engagement in war.
From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
