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Friday December 18, 2009

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irenic [eye-REN-ik; -REE-nik]

adjective

1. Conducive to peace; conciliatory.

• The argument seems to be: McCain will get ticked off and invade Iran -- or maybe, on a bad day, Canada. But Bill Clinton's famous purple rages did not translate into foreign policy aggressiveness or irresponsibility. History shows that the petty can be peaceful -- and that men of irenic temperament can be forced to war.
  Michael Gerson, "McCain's Anger Management", The Washington Post, Apr 23, 2008
• The institute also offers a degree in conscious evolution, a study of human consciousness, and a new degree in Irenic (peace) studies.
  Noelle Frampton, "Masters of holistic thinking", Connecticut Post, Apr 5, 2008
• He and his followers were bitterly assailed, but his irenic spirit did not forsake him. He was a true child of the Renaissance, and is styled by some writers "the founder of general learning throughout Europe.
  Grenville Kleiser (1868 - 1935) An American author. The World's Great Sermons, Volume I (1908)

Origin of the Word

Irenic, approximately 1864, derives from Greek eirenikos, from eirene "peace."