Definition of acquiesce
acquiesced
;acquiescing
intransitive verb
: to accept, comply, or submit tacitly or passively —often used with in or to
From the M-W Editors
acquiesce was our Word of the Day on 09/21/2013. Hear the podcast!
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Examples of acquiesce in a Sentence
… the tender understanding with which he had acquiesced to her wish not to consummate their relationship out of wedlock. —Dorothy West, The Wedding, 1995
… he seems to have acquiesced in his Christian Scientist wife's refusal to provide medical care … —Joyce Carol Oates, New York Times Book Review, 17 Dec. 1995
The main body of Shi'is, in and around Iraq, accepted 'Abbasid rule, or at least acquiesced in it. —Albert Hourani, A History of the Arab Peoples, 1991
He passively acquired the reputation of being a snob, and acquiesced to it … —George V. Higgins, Harper's, September 1984
They demanded it, and he acquiesced.
apparently the contractor expected me to acquiesce to my own fleecing
Recent Examples of acquiesce from the Web
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Mr. Hamdard suggested that the authorities had acquiesced in turning the couple over to the families.
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Iran’s oil production is about 200,000 barrels a day less than its government says, according to independent estimates cited by Iraq acquiesced to using independent estimates of its output at 4.55 million barrels a day.
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And a Trump administration that stood up to Iranian military expansionism, in Syria, Yemen and Bahrain, could persuade Saudi Arabia to acquiesce to Assad in Syria and bring about a broader regional reconciliation.
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The attorney general, Mohammad Ishaq Aloko, a Karzai protégé, was out of the country undergoing medical treatment; in his absence, his deputy acquiesced.
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Did You Know?
Acquiesce means essentially "to comply quietly," so it should not surprise you to learn that it is ultimately derived from the Latin verb quiescere, meaning "to be quiet." It arrived in English around 1620, via the French acquiescer, with the now obsolete sense "to rest satisfied." The earliest known recorded use of the word acquiesce in the sense of "to agree or comply" appeared in the writings of the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes in 1651. In his masterpiece Leviathan, Hobbes argued that people must subject themselves completely to a sovereign and should obey the teachings of the church. Encouraging his readers to adopt his position he wrote, "Our Beleefe . . . is in the Church; whose word we take, and acquiesce therein."
Origin and Etymology of acquiesce
French acquiescer, from Latin acquiescere, from ad- + quiescere to be quiet — more at quiescent
First Known Use: 1613
Synonym Discussion of acquiesce
ACQUIESCE Defined for English Language Learners
acquiesce
playDefinition of acquiesce for English Language Learners
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: to accept, agree, or allow something to happen by staying silent or by not arguing
ACQUIESCE Defined for Kids
acquiesce
playDefinition of acquiesce for Students
acquiesced
;acquiescing
: to accept, agree, or give consent by keeping silent or by not making objections They acquiesced to the demands.
Law Dictionary
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See words that rhyme with acquiesce Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for acquiesce Spanish Central: Translation of acquiesce Nglish: Translation of acquiesce for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of acquiesce for Arabic speakers
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