Standard Lemma guide

irenic

adj · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /aɪˈɹiːnɪk/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /-ˈɹɛ-/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /aɪˈɹinɪk/
  • General-American: /-ˈɹɛ-/
  • rhymes with -iːnɪk
  • rhymes with -ɛnɪk

1

adj

Meaning 1

Promoting or fitted to promote peace or peacemaking, especially over disputes; conciliatory, non-confrontational, peaceful.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: lifestyle, religion, theology

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: irenical, nonpolemic, nonpolemical, pacific, anti-bellicist, dovelike, dovish, irenic, non-violent, pacifist, pacifistic, peaceable, peaceful, unaggressive

Antonyms: contentious, disputatious, polemic, polemical, unirenic, agonistic, argumentative, bangsome, bellicose, belligerent, debateful, discordant, factious, fractious, fratchety, fratchy, litigious, logomachic, pettifogging, quarrelous, quarrelsome, rantankerous, squabbly, strifeful, unpacific

2

adjective satellite

Meaning 2

conducive to peace

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • irenic without being namby-pamby
  • an irenic attitude toward former antagonists

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Ancient Greek εἰρηνικός (eirēnikós, “characterized by peace, peaceful”) + English -ic (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘of or pertaining to’). Εἰρηνικός (Eirēnikós) is derived from εἰρήνη (eirḗnē, “peace”) (possibly from εἴρω (eírō, “to fasten together”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“(verb) to bind, tie together; (noun) thread”)), or εἴρω (eírō, “to say, speak”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *werh1- (“to say, speak”))) + -ῐκός (-ĭkós, suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘of or pertaining to’).

Across languages

Translations

10 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: миротворен (mirotvoren) — promoting or fitted to promote peace or peacemaking, especially over disputes — see also conciliatory
  • Chinese Mandarin: 和平的 (hépíngde) — promoting or fitted to promote peace or peacemaking, especially over disputes — see also conciliatory
  • Dutch: irenisch — promoting or fitted to promote peace or peacemaking, especially over disputes — see also conciliatory
  • Dutch: vredelievend — promoting or fitted to promote peace or peacemaking, especially over disputes — see also conciliatory
  • French: irénique — promoting or fitted to promote peace or peacemaking, especially over disputes — see also conciliatory
  • Italian: irenico — promoting or fitted to promote peace or peacemaking, especially over disputes — see also conciliatory
  • Macedonian: миро́творен (mirótvoren) — promoting or fitted to promote peace or peacemaking, especially over disputes — see also conciliatory
  • Spanish: irénico — promoting or fitted to promote peace or peacemaking, especially over disputes — see also conciliatory
  • Swedish: irenisk — promoting or fitted to promote peace or peacemaking, especially over disputes — see also conciliatory
  • Welsh: heddychol — promoting or fitted to promote peace or peacemaking, especially over disputes — see also conciliatory