armistice

noun

ar·​mi·​stice ˈär-mə-stəs 

: temporary stopping of open acts of warfare by agreement between the opponents : truce

Did you know?

Armistice descends from Latin sistere, meaning "to come to a stand" or "to cause to stand or stop," combined with arma, meaning "weapons." An armistice, therefore, is literally a cessation of arms. Armistice Day is the name that was given to the holiday celebrated in the United States on November 11 before it was renamed Veterans Day by Congress in 1954. The original name refers to the agreement between the Allied Powers and Germany to end hostilities that constituted the First World War—an agreement designated to take effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.

Synonyms

• cease-fire
• truce

Examples of armistice in a Sentence

both sides in the conflict agreed to an armistice during the solemn holy days

Recent Examples on the Web

The hostilities halted in 1953 with an armistice, not a peace treaty. —Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 20 May 2024

To her credit, Peters put her own boots on the ground in Europe after the armistice. —Michelle Stacey, Smithsonian Magazine, 14 May 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from New Latin armistitium, from Latin arma "implements of war, weapons" + -stit-, -stes (going back to *-sta-t-s, root noun derivative from Indo-European *steh₂- the base of Latin sistere "to make stand, halt, bring to a standstill," stāre "to stand") + -ium, suffix of compounded nouns — more at arm entry 3, stand entry 1

Note: The Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources records armistitium from medieval Scottish documents preserved in England (Rotuli Scotiae in Turri Londensi et in Domo Capitulari Westmonasteriensi asservati, vol. 1, London, 1814, p. 335). However, the word occurs only in the text of a heading summarizing the contents of a letter written in April, 1335. These headings were presumably composed when the documents were collected for publication and do not reflect medieval usage of armistitium. Printed records of the word are in abundance only after 1610, when it appears in the dedicatory preface to Biblical commentaries by the French Jesuit Nicolaus Serarius (In sacros divinorum bibliorum libros, Tobiam, Iudith, Esther et Machabaeos commentarius, Mainz, 1610), though there is no reason to believe Serarius coined it. The model for the coinage may have been Latin solstitium solstice.

First Known Use

1677, in the meaning defined above

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Kids Definition

armistice

noun

ar·​mi·​stice ˈär-mə-stəs 

: a pause in fighting brought about by agreement between the two sides