irenic
UK /aɪˈɹiːnɪk/ · US /aɪˈɹinɪk/ adjective
Forms eirenic
- adjective (chiefly theology) Promoting or fitted to promote peace or peacemaking, especially over disputes; conciliatory, non-confrontational, peaceful.
Synonyms
irenical nonpolemic nonpolemical pacific anti-bellicist dovelike dovish non-violent pacifist pacifistic peaceable peaceful unaggressive
Antonyms
contentious disputatious polemic polemical unirenic agonistic argumentative bangsome bellicose belligerent debateful discordant
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’).
Webster’s 1913
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “irenic”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details