Standard Lemma guide

pacifism

noun · 6 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.

  • /ˈpæsɪfɪzəm/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: P AE1 S IH0 F IH2 Z AH0 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The support of peace, specifically:

The conviction that it is morally wrong to settle disputes (especially between countries) by war or other violent means.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The support of peace, specifically:

The ethical avoidance of inflicting harm on others in one's daily life.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: ahimsa, nonkilling

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

The support of peace, specifically:

The combination of the above two philosophical viewpoints.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

The additional challenge of winning a game without harming any enemy characters.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: roguelikes, video-games

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

the belief that all international disputes can be settled by arbitration

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: pacificism

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: belief

6

noun

Meaning 6

the doctrine that all violence is unjustifiable

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: pacificism, passivism

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: doctrine, philosophy, philosophical system, school of thought, ism

History

Etymology

From French pacifisme, from pacifique; pacific + -ism.

Across languages

Translations

75 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: pacifizëm — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Arabic: سَلَامِيَّة (salāmiyya) — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Arabic: سِلْمِيَّة (silmiyya) — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Armenian: պացիֆիզմ (pacʻifizm) — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Azerbaijani: pasifizm — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Belarusian: пацыфі́зм (pacyfízm) — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Bengali: শান্তিবাদ (śantibad) — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Bulgarian: пацифи́зъм (pacifízǎm) — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Burmese: ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေးဝါဒ (ngrim:hkyam:re:wada.) — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Catalan: pacifisme — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Chinese Mandarin: 和平主義 /和平主义 (hépíngzhǔyì) — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Corsican: pacifismu — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Czech: pacifismus — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Danish: pacifisme — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Dutch: pacifisme — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Esperanto: pacismo — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Estonian: patsifism — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Finnish: pasifismi — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Finnish: rauhanaate — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • French: pacifisme — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • West-Frisian: pasifisme — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Galician: pacifismo — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Georgian: პაციფიზმი (ṗacipizmi) — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • German: Pazifismus — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Greek: ειρηνισμός (eirinismós) — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Greek: πασιφισμός (pasifismós) — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Hebrew: פָּצִיפִיזְם (patsifízm) — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Hindi: शान्तिवाद (śāntivād) — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Hindi: शांतिवाद (śāntivād) — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Hungarian: pacifizmus — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Irish: síochánachas — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Italian: pacifismo — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Japanese: 平和主義 (heiwashugi) — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Kazakh: пацифизм (pasifizm) — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Khmer: សន្តិនិយម (sɑnteniyum) — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Korean: 평화주의 (pyeonghwajuui) — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Northern Kurdish: pasîfîzm — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Northern Kurdish: aştîxwazî — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Northern Kurdish: şernexwazî — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Kyrgyz: пацифизм (patsifizm) — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Latvian: pacifisms — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Lithuanian: pacifizmas — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Macedonian: пацифи́зам (pacifízam) — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Macedonian: мирољубивост (miroljubivost) — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Malay: faham pententeraman — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Malay: pasifisme — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Mongolian: пацифизм (pacifizm) — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Norwegian Bokmål: pasifisme — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: pasifisme — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Pashto: صلح پسندي (solh-psandī) — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Persian: صلحجویی (solh-juyi) — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Persian: صلحطلبی (solh-talabi) — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Polish: pacyfizm — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Portuguese: pacifismo — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Romanian: pacifism — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Russian: пацифи́зм (pacifízm) — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Serbo-Croatian: пацифѝзам — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Serbo-Croatian: pacifìzam — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Sicilian: pacifismu — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Sicilian: pacifìsimu — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Slovak: pacifizmus — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Slovene: pacifizem — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Spanish: pacifismo — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Swedish: pacifism — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Tagalog: pasipismo — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Tajik: патсифизм (patsifizm) — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Tajik: сулҳҷӯӣ (sulhjüyi) — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Tajik: сулҳталабӣ (sulhtalabi) — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Thai: สันตินิยม (sǎn-dtì-ní-yom) — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Turkish: pasifizm — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Turkmen: pasifizm — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Ukrainian: пацифі́зм (pacyfízm) — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Urdu: اَمْن پَسَنْدی (amn-pasandī) — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Uzbek: patsifizm — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence
  • Vietnamese: chủ nghĩa hoà bình — doctrine that disputes should be settled without violence