PAC/PEAS is related to the Latin words for “agree” and “peace.” The Pacific Ocean–that is the “Peaceful Ocean”–was named by Magellan because it seemed so calm after the storm near Cape Horn.
- pacify: (1) To sooth anger or agitation. (2) To subdue by armed action. (It took the police hours to pacify the angry demonstrators.)
- pacifist: A person opposed to war or violence, especially someone who refuses to bear arms or to fight, on moral or religious grounds. (Always a strong pacifist, in later life he took to promoting actively the cause of peace and nonviolence.)
- pact: An agreement between two or more people or groups; a treaty or formal agreement between nations to deal with a problem or to resolve a dispute. (The girls made a pact never to reveal what had happened on that terrifying night in the abandoned house).
- appease: To make peaceful and quiet; to calm, satisfy. (The Aztects offered mass human sacrifices–of 80,000 prisoners on one occasion!–in order to appease their gods.)
Source: Merriam-Webster's Vocabulary Builder
