nonviolent
Americanadjective
-
not violent; free of violence.
-
peacefully resistant, as in response to or protest against injustice, especially on moral or philosophical grounds.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of nonviolent
Vocabulary lists containing nonviolent
We're not asking, we're demanding: Vocabulary from "Selma," the movie
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Prefixes: non-
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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.
He enlisted the Rev. Wayne “Chris” Hartmire Jr., an old friend from his UFW days to stage a nonviolent fast to pressure county officials to act on a homeless shelter.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
This was particularly true in India, where Mahatma Gandhi’s nonviolent Quit India campaign was met in 1942 by a violent British crackdown.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
Four years later, an overwhelming majority of California voters approved Proposition 36, reversing a 2014 change that had commuted some nonviolent felonies to misdemeanors.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2026
"However, this is an extremely unusual and lengthy sentence for a first time offender who committed nonviolent crimes."
From Barron's ● May 15, 2026
Anthropologists formerly idealized band and tribal societies as gentle and nonviolent, because visiting anthropologists observed no murder in a band of 25 people in the course of a three-year study.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Definitions 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.
