peaceful

English

Alternative forms

peacefull (archaic)

Etymology 1

From Middle English peesful, pesful, paisful, pesefull, equivalent to peace +‎ -ful.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈpiːsfəl/
Audio (US): (file)
Hyphenation: peace‧ful

Adjective

peaceful (comparative more peaceful or peacefuller or peacefuler, superlative most peaceful or peacefullest or peacefulest)

Not at war; not disturbed by strife or turmoil.
Antonyms: warring, at war

peaceful protest
- 2013 July 20, “Old soldiers?”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:
  Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine. […] One thing that is true, though, is that murder rates have fallen over the centuries, as policing has spread and the routine carrying of weapons has diminished. Modern society may not have done anything about war. But peace is a lot more peaceful.
Inclined to peace.
Synonyms: dovish, irenic, pacate, peaceable, pacific, pacifistic, roolie

Antonyms: belligerent, violent
Motionless and calm.
Synonyms: tranquil, placid, still; see also Thesaurus:calm

Derived terms

Translations

not at war or disturbed by strife or turmoil

Afrikaans: vreedsaam
Arabic: سِلْمِيّ (silmiyy)
Armenian: խաղաղ (hy) (xaġaġ)
Azerbaijani: dinc (az)
Belarusian: спако́йны (be) (spakójny), мі́рны (mírny), ці́хі (be) (cíxi)
Bulgarian: ми́рен (bg) (míren), споко́ен (bg) (spokóen), тих (bg) (tih)
Catalan: pacífic (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 平安 (zh) (píng'ān)
Czech: pokojný (cs)
Dutch: vredevol (nl), vredig (nl), vreedzaam (nl)
Esperanto: paca (eo)
Finnish: rauhallinen (fi), rauhanomainen
French: paisible (fr)
Galician: pacífico (gl) m
Georgian: მშვიდობიანი (mšvidobiani)
German: friedlich (de)
Hebrew: שָׁקֵט (he)
Hindi: शांत (hi) (śānt)
Hungarian: békés (hu)
Ingrian: sopulikas
Irish: suaimhneach
Italian: pacifico (it)
Japanese: 平和な (ja) (heiwa na)
Korean: 평화롭다 (ko) (pyeonghwaropda)
Latin: pācātus
Macedonian: мирен (miren)
Malay: damai (ms), aman (ms)
Maori: mārie, aumārire, houkura
Norman: paisibl'ye
Occitan: pacific (oc)
Old English: friþsum
Plautdietsch: frädlich
Polish: pokojowy (pl)
Portuguese: pacífico (pt)
Russian: ми́рный (ru) (mírnyj), споко́йный (ru) (spokójnyj), ти́хий (ru) (tíxij)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: ми́ран

Roman: míran (sh)
Slovak: pokojný (sk)
Slovene: miren (sl)
Spanish: pacífico (es)
Turkish: barışta (tr), sulhta (obsolecent)
Ukrainian: ми́рний (mýrnyj), спокі́йний (spokíjnyj), ти́хий (týxyj)
Vietnamese: hòa bình (vi)
Walloon: påjhûle (wa), påjhire (wa)
Yiddish: שלומדיק (sholemdik)

inclined to peace; peaceable

Arabic: مُسَالِم (musālim)
Armenian: խաղաղասեր (hy) (xaġaġaser)
Azerbaijani: dinc (az)
Belarusian: мі́рны (mírny), міралюбі́вы (miraljubívy)
Bulgarian: ми́рен (bg) (míren)
Catalan: pacífic (ca)
Czech: mírumilovný (cs)
Dutch: vredig (nl), vreedzaam (nl)
Esperanto: pacema
Finnish: rauhallinen (fi), rauhantahtoinen
French: paisible (fr), pacifique (fr)
Galician: pacífico (gl) m
Georgian: მშვიდობისმოყვარული (mšvidobismoq̇varuli)
German: friedfertig (de)
Gothic: 𐌲𐌰𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌸𐌴𐌹𐌲𐍃 (gawairþeigs)
Hungarian: békés (hu), békeszerető (hu)
Ingrian: sopulikas
Irish: suaimhneach
Japanese: 穏和な (ja) (onwa na)
Latin: pācātus
Macedonian: мирољубив (miroljubiv)
Maori: mārie, aumārire, houkura
Norman: paisibl'ye
Norwegian:
Bokmål: fredelig (no)
Plautdietsch: frädlich
Polish: bezkonfliktowy (pl)
Portuguese: pacífico (pt)
Romanian: pașnic (ro)
Russian: ми́рный (ru) (mírnyj), миролюби́вый (ru) (miroljubívyj)
Turkish: uysal (tr), yumuşak başlı (tr)
Ukrainian: ми́рний (mýrnyj), миролю́бний (myroljúbnyj)
Walloon: påjhûle (wa), påjhire (wa)

motionless and calm; placid

Armenian: խաղաղ (hy) (xaġaġ), հանդարտ (hy) (handart), հանգիստ (hy) (hangist)
Azerbaijani: dinc (az), sakit (az)
Bulgarian: спокоен (bg) (spokoen)
Catalan: assossegat (ca)
Czech: klidný (cs)
Dutch: vredig (nl)
Esperanto: paca (eo)
Finnish: rauhallinen (fi)
French: placide (fr), calme (fr)
Galician: calmo m
German: friedlich (de)
Hebrew: שָׁלֵו (he), שָׁקֵט (he)
Ingrian: rauhalliin, rauhain
Irish: sámh
Italian: calmo (it)
Japanese: 平穏な (ja) (heion na), 平静な (ja) (heisei na)
Korean: 평화롭다 (ko) (pyeonghwaropda)
Macedonian: мирен (miren)
Maori: whakaaio
Ossetian: ӕнцад (æncad)
Ottoman Turkish: دولك (dölek)
Plautdietsch: stell, frädlich
Polish: spokojny (pl)
Portuguese: calmo (pt), tranquilo (pt)
Russian: ми́рный (ru) (mírnyj), споко́йный (ru) (spokójnyj), ти́хий (ru) (tíxij)
Scottish Gaelic: foiseil, suaimhneach
Spanish: tranquilo (es), plácido (es)
Turkish: huzurlu (tr), sakin (tr)
Tuvaluan: filemu
Walloon: påjhûle (wa), påjhire (wa)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

German: ^{(please verify)} friedlich (de)
Italian: ^{(please verify)} pacifico (it), ^{(please verify)} placido (it), ^{(please verify)} tranquillo (it)

Etymology 2

Derived from the derogatory term religion of peace, which is used against Islam itself for its association with violent attacks by Islamic extremists, and alleged support and lack of condemnation against them by certain Muslim communities.

Noun

peaceful (plural peacefuls)

(India, Islam, Islamophobic, Internet slang, offensive) a Muslim; especially a violent member of a radical Islamist group.
- 2021, Raghu Karnad, The Wire‎^[1]:
  They only have to use a bit of code to name those people; nowadays they call them “peacefuls”. A smirking euphemism is all it takes to sail through Twitter’s filter, and keep the hate-speech flowing.