Definition of "pacifism" [pacifism]

• The belief that disputes between nations should and can be settled peacefully. (noun)
• Opposition to war or violence as a means of resolving disputes. (noun)
• Such opposition demonstrated by refusal to participate in military action. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "But you are willing to use the label pacifism, and are willing to trace your whole life to the moment in which you adopted that word as what you were going to to be about and doing."
• "Schreiber's "absolute" commitment to what he calls pacifism will not help him argue with those who hold an equally "absolute" commitment to, say, the virtues of "struggle.""
• "But as I've emphasized, one person's pacifism is highly unlikely to change the outcome of a war, so in marginalist terms, it isn't really a cost."