Amicable comes from Latin amīcābilis, meaning "friendly," and amāre, "to feel affection for" or "to love." Amāre has a number of English descendants, including amiable ("friendly, sociable, and congenial"), amorous ("strongly moved by love and especially sexual love"), and amateur, which, though it might seem surprising, is related to amāre by way of the Latin amātor, which means "lover" as well as "enthusiastic admirer" and "devotee."
amicable implies a state of peace and a desire on the part of the parties not to quarrel.
maintained amicable relations
neighborly implies a disposition to live on good terms with others and to be helpful on principle.
neighborly concern
friendly stresses cordiality and often warmth or intimacy of personal relations.
sought friendly advice
Examples of amicable in a Sentence
About a million couples divorce each year in the United States, and most, like my ex and me, start out striving to keep the split amicable. And though you may have good intentions, things can go awry during the traditional I-win-you-lose adversarial process.—Annie Finnigan, Family Circle, 17 Oct. 2008Instead, with the help of a neighborhood activist, Rob struck out in another direction. He retook his old turf from the dealers who had replaced him and opened a fruit stand and, later, a hot-dog concession. Bright, amicable and assured, Rob so impressed Anderson that the sociologist hired him as a part-time assistant.—Ellis Cose, Newsweek, 30 Aug. 1999Cops such as William Anderson and Lowell Powell had been Sonny's friends. "I was a policeman and he was something of a thug," Powell recalled, but nonetheless their dealings were amicable. In the big picture, however, there was no love lost between Sonny and the cops.—Nick Tosches, Vanity Fair, February 1998
They reached an amicable agreement.
the contract negotiations between the hotel workers and management were reasonably amicable
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Moreover, the kind of change that Engine calls for here is generally not the kind of change that comes from an amicable settlement.—Kenneth Squire, CNBC, 16 Aug. 2025 The folks at the Internet Archive, meanwhile, remain hopeful of an amicable solution.—PC Magazine, 12 Aug. 2025 Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom ended their relationship on amicable terms, but that may not last much longer.—Jason Pham, StyleCaster, 11 Aug. 2025 The former pair seem to have had an amicable breakup and both are tight-lipped about the reason for their split.—Elizabeth Ayoola, Essence, 11 Aug. 2025 See All Example Sentences for amicable
Word History
Etymology
Middle English, borrowed from Late Latin amīcābilis "friendly" — more at amiable
Share