unpeace

unpeace

English

Etymology

From un- (“absence or lack of”) +‎ peace. Compare unfrith.

Noun

unpeace (uncountable)

1. Absence of peace; peacelessness.
   • c. 1384, Thomas Usk, The Testament of Love

     Howe shulde ever goodnesse of peace have ben knowe, but if unpeace somtyme reigne, and mokel yvel wrothe?

   • 1460-1500, The Towneley Playsː

     We held with him there he said lease, and therefore have we all unpeaceǃ

   • 1998, Robert E. Bjork, John D. Niles, A Beowulf Handbook:

     The name signifies 'unpeace, feud'"

   • 1978, Helen Kooiman Hosier, The other side of divorce, page 13:

     We were Christians; Christians living in a state of undivorce.yet striving to keep the marriage together while living in great unpeace and disharmony.

   • 1999, Inner land: A Guide Into the Heart of the Gospel:

     The power of love opposes the violence of unpeace.

   • 2001, Marva J. Dawn, Karen Dismer, Morning by Morning:

     Indeed, I readily see "unpeace" in myself. I violate peace not only in hasty words or angry attitudes but also in failing to be the reconciler Jesus calls his followers to be. So much of our culture's unpeace arises because of greed, our proliferating needs and wants.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for unpeace in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913)