Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Inclined or disposed to peace; promoting calm.
  • adjective Peaceful; undisturbed.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Accompanied with or characterized by peace, quietness, or tranquillity; free from agitation, war, tumult, or disturbance of any kind; peaceful.
  • Disposed to peace; not quarrelsome, rude, or boisterous.
  • Synonyms Peaceful, etc. (see pacific), amicable, mild, friendly.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Begin in or at peace; tranquil; quiet; free from, or not disposed to, war, disorder, or excitement; not quarrelsome.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective disposed to peace or of a peaceful nature
  • adjective not disturbed by strife or turmoil or war
  • adjective inclined or disposed to peace

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Anglo-Norman pesible, peisible, Middle French paisible, from pais ("peace") + -ible; later remodelled after peace +‎ -able.

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Examples

  • But the grandson of your abjured and repudiated Josephine, shall, after many vicissitudes, obtain peaceable possession of the throne of France; and shall be the chief ally and friend of your enemy England.

    A Letter to the Queen on Lord Chancellor Cransworth's Marriage and Divorce Bill 1855

  • At that same moment Caspar’s personality seemed to arise from its baby fug and it struck me that the tiny human person sitting across from me might be described as peaceable, sensitive, reflective, self-possessed.

    a better woman Susan Johnson 1999

  • At that same moment Caspar’s personality seemed to arise from its baby fug and it struck me that the tiny human person sitting across from me might be described as peaceable, sensitive, reflective, self-possessed.

    a better woman Susan Johnson 1999

  • At that same moment Caspar’s personality seemed to arise from its baby fug and it struck me that the tiny human person sitting across from me might be described as peaceable, sensitive, reflective, self-possessed.

    a better woman Susan Johnson 1999

  • Now, was it fair to call a peaceable inhabitant like me into the thick of a fray like this?

    Wylder's Hand 2003

  • Theologians exact as necessary qualities of this possession that it should be peaceable, that is, not assailed by lawsuits, sure, uninterrupted, and open, that is, not clandestine.

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 12: Philip II-Reuss 1840-1916 1913

  • They are called a peaceable remedy, and we have been told that South Carolina, after all, intends nothing but a lawsuit.

    Select Speeches of Daniel Webster Webster, Daniel, 1782-1852 1903

  • Its characteristic feature is a formal observance of peace and order, at the same time that life at this stage still has too much of coercion and class antagonism to be called peaceable in the full sense of the word.

    The theory of the leisure class; an economic study of institutions 1899

  • Its characteristic feature is a formal observance of peace and order, at the same time that life at this stage still has too much of coercion and class antagonism to be called peaceable in the full sense of the word.

    Theory of the Leisure Class Thorstein Veblen 1893

  • For calling our peaceable meetings riots, which in the legal notion of the word riot is a contradiction in terms, they indicted our friends as rioters for only sitting in a meeting, though nothing was there either said or done by them, and then set fines on them at pleasure.

    The History of Thomas Ellwood Written by Himself Ellwood, Thomas, 1639-1713 1885

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