Meanings
peacemaker1
plural peacemakers
- A person who restores peace, especially by settling disputes; one who engages in peacemaking.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shalbe called the chyldren of God.
1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Matthew v:[9]5 more examples
Loke therfore, O mercifull God, not vpon the sinnes which we continually commit: but vpon our mediatour & peacemaker Jesus Christ; that by his intercession thy wrath may be pacified, and we againe by thy fatherly countenance relieved and comforted.
1563, Church of England, A Fourme to be Vsed in Common Prayer Twyse a Weke, and Also an Order of Publique Fast, to be Vsed Euery Wednesday in the Weeke, Duryng this Tyme of Mortalitie, and Other Afflictions, Wherwith the Realme at this Present is Visited. Set Forth by the Quenes Maiesties Speciall Co[m]maundement, Expressed in Her Letters Hereafter Folowyng in the Next PageThese two things premis’d, I come now to draw the character of the persons here stiled peacemakers. It is observed, and very justly, by more Commentators than one, that peacemakers are the same, as men of a peaceable mind and disposition; for as he that is inclined to lying, is said to make a lie because he delights in making it; and he that is habitually inclin’d to sin, ποιειν αμαρτιαν, to do sin or make it (for the original word is the same) because he delights in the practice of wickedness; in like manner, he that is prevailingly disposed to follow peace, may be stiled a peacemaker; the word denotes the habit of the mind, which is the same, equally amiable in its self, and in the sight of God, whether the peaceable man has an opportunity to make peace among others or no.
1742, Henry Grove, Thomas Amory, Sermons, Being Two Additional Volumes of the Posthumous Works of the Late Reverend Mr. Henry Grove, of Taunton · Volume 2, page 154Many times, in reflecting upon the subject, my feelings were to go and see the Indians personally. Although they were at war, and had been for some six or eight years and killed numbers of our people, breaking up whole districts, still I felt as though I would rather approach them as a peacemaker than as a fighter.
1890, Daniel Webster Jones, Forty Years Among the Indians; A True Yet Thrilling Narrative of the Author's Experiences Among the Natives, pages 169-70Mr. Carter has celebrated experience as a peacemaker: he mediated the 1978 peace talks between Israel and Egypt at Camp David.
1989 September 3, R. W. Apple, Jr., “Carter the Peacemaker Now Turns to Ethiopia”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 25 May 2015“That’s what I want to be: a peacemaker and a unifier,” he said. His time in office so far has not, at least not yet, been the era of peace.
2025 June 18, Zachary B. Wolf, quoting Donald Trump, “Trump promised a peacemaker presidency. What happened?”, in CNN, archived from the original on 19 Aug 2025Synonyms: pacificator · Antonyms: warmonger, troublemaker, peacebreaker
- non-native speakers' EnglishmedicineCatachresis for pacemaker.
Indeed, although the activity of the heart depends on the intrinsic rhythm of its peacemaker […]
2010, M. Valderrama, V. Navarro, M. Le Van Quyen, “Heart rate variability as measurement of heart-brain interactions”, in Epilepsies1 more example
The “heart’s peacemaker” is the node from which the electrical signal for heart beat are […]
2014, S. Samad, SA. Khan, A. Haq, A. Riaz, “Classification of arrhythmia”, in International Journal of Electrical Energy
Peacemaker2
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA person who restores peace, especially by settling disputes; one who engages in peacemaking.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna belt-fed machine gun capable of firing more than 500 rounds per minute; used by United States troops in World War II and the Korean War
nounsomeone who tries to bring peace
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
peacemaker · noun
- Koine Greekεἰρηνοποιοί“peacemaker”
- Englishpeacemaker
Compound of peace + maker. First attested in the Tyndale Bible from 1526, as a translation of Koine Greek εἰρηνοποιοί (eirēnopoioí, “peacemaker”), a hapax legomenon found in the New Testament. (The Wycliffe Bible from 1395 instead uses "pesible men", to translate Latin pacifici from the Vulgate)
More words from Koine Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek εἰρηνοποιός
- εἰρηνοποιός (eirēnopoiós)someone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
Arabic صانِعُ ٱلسَّلام, مُصْلِح
- صانِعُ ٱلسَّلام (ṣāniʕu s-salām)someone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
- مُصْلِح (muṣliḥ)someone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
Basque bakegile
- bakegilesomeone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
Bulgarian миротво́рец, помири́тел
- миротво́рец (mirotvórec)someone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
- помири́тел (pomirítel)someone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
- помири́телка (pomirítelka)someone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
Chinese Cantonese 和事佬
- 和事佬 (wo⁴ si⁶ lou²)someone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
Chinese Mandarin 和事佬, 仲裁人
- 和事佬 (héshìlǎo)someone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
- 仲裁人 (zhòngcáirén)someone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
Czech mírotvorce, mírotvorkyně
- mírotvorcesomeone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
- mírotvorkyněsomeone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
- mírotvůrcesomeone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
- mírotvůrkyněsomeone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
- usmiřovatelsomeone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
- usmiřovatelkasomeone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
Danish fredsstifter
- fredsstiftersomeone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
Dutch vredestichter, pacificateur
- vredestichtersomeone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
- pacificateursomeone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
Finnish rauhantekijä, rauhanrakentaja
- rauhantekijäsomeone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
- rauhanrakentajasomeone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
French pacificateur, pacificatrice
- pacificateursomeone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
- pacificatricesomeone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
German Friedensstifter, Friedensstifterin
- Friedensstiftersomeone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
- Friedensstifterinsomeone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
Greek ειρηνοποιός
- ειρηνοποιός (eirinopoiós)someone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
Hungarian békeszerző
- békeszerzősomeone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
Italian pacificatore, pacificatrice
- pacificatoresomeone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
- pacificatricesomeone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
Japanese ピースメーカー, 仲裁人
- ピースメーカー (pīsumēkā)someone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
- 仲裁人 (chūsainin)someone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
Korean 중재인, 조정자
- 중재인 (jungjaein)someone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
- 조정자 (jojeongja)someone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
- 피스메이커 (piseumeikeo)someone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
Latin pācificātor, pācātor
- pācificātorsomeone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
- pācātorsomeone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
Norwegian Bokmål fredsstifter
- fredsstiftersomeone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
Polish rozjemca, rozjemczyni
- rozjemcasomeone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
- rozjemczynisomeone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
- negocjator pokojowysomeone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
Portuguese pacificador
- pacificadorsomeone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
Romanian pacificator, pacificatoare
- pacificatorsomeone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
- pacificatoaresomeone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
Russian миротво́рец
- миротво́рец (mirotvórec)someone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
Slovak mierotvorca, zmierovateľ
- mierotvorcasomeone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
- zmierovateľsomeone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
Spanish pacificador, pacificadora
- pacificadorsomeone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
- pacificadorasomeone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
Swedish fredsstiftare
- fredsstiftaresomeone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
Turkish arabulucu
- arabulucusomeone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
Ukrainian миротво́рець
- миротво́рець (myrotvórecʹ)someone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
Vietnamese người hoà giải
- người hoà giảisomeone who restores peace, especially by settling disputes
Cite this entry
peacemaker. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/peacemaker
“peacemaker.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/peacemaker. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “peacemaker,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/peacemaker.
Source: peacemaker on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.