peacenik

noun

peace·​nik ˈpēs-ˌnik How to pronounce peacenik (audio)
: an opponent of war
specifically : one who participates in antiwar demonstrations

Examples of peacenik in a Sentence

peaceniks argued that all the nonmilitary options had not been exhausted
Recent Examples on the Web This Einstein is a fervent peacenik who saw in Nazi Germany an existential threat to peace everywhere, and to Jewish people in particular. Chris Vognar, Rolling Stone, 17 Feb. 2024 That’s the debate between hawkish military officers, embodied by Devid Striesow, and more pragmatic politicians trying to negotiate an armistice, including the real-life character of Matthias Erzberger (Daniel Brühl), here portrayed as a peacenik motivated by the death of his son. Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post, 12 Oct. 2022 Age peacenik attitude of Posdnous and Trugoy’s lyrics. Al Shipley, SPIN, 16 Feb. 2023 Has this latter-day John D. Rockefeller found his inner peacenik? Alexander Sammon, The New Republic, 28 Aug. 2019 Contrary to the testimony of Rand Paul and Maureen Dowd, Trump is not a peacenik. Adam Weinstein, The New Republic, 10 Sep. 2019 More broadly, Mr Corbyn represents only one strand of foreign-policy thinking within the party, which is not filled exclusively by peaceniks. The Economist, 6 June 2019 The real story began with Daniel Ellsberg, the Marine turned government researcher turned clandestine peacenik who first gave the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times. Manohla Dargis, New York Times, 21 Dec. 2017 Their appearances feel elegiac in the wake of the election, serving not to remind the reader of a lost radical past but to underscore just how far from radicalism so many former peaceniks have come. The Washington Post, The Denver Post, 9 Feb. 2017

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'peacenik.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1962, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of peacenik was in 1962

Dictionary Entries Near peacenik

Cite this Entry

“Peacenik.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/peacenik. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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