Nonviolent

How to spell nonviolent

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce nonviolent

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does nonviolent mean?

1. adjectiveNot using or involving physical force or aggression.

Nonviolent in a sentence

• The campaign stayed strictly nonviolent throughout the long dispute.

• He was charged only with a nonviolent offence and received a fine.

Where does nonviolent come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word is a straightforward English compound: the negative prefix non-, meaning simply 'not', attached to the adjective violent. Violent reached English in the late 1300s through Old French, drawn from the Latin violentus, which meant 'forceful', 'impetuous' or 'vehement'. That Latin adjective grew from vis, the noun for 'force' or 'strength', the same root that lies behind 'violate' and 'violence'. The non- prefix is itself Latin, where it served as the ordinary marker of negation, and English has used it freely to coin negatives since the medieval period. The modern combination became prominent in the twentieth century, especially in the language of protest and political resistance, where 'nonviolent' described campaigns that deliberately rejected force. The spelling trap is purely about the join: it is one solid word with no hyphen, and the buried, unstressed 'io' in the middle is easy to slur in speech and then mangle in writing.

How the word is built

• non- (not)
• violent (from Latin violentus: forceful, vehement); violent itself from vis 'force'
• -ent (adjective suffix)