Nonkilling

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. The state or condition of not causing death or killing anyone
2. A situation characterized by the complete lack of killing or homicide
3. The quality or practice of avoiding killing any living being

Etymology: "Nonkilling" is a plain formation: the prefix "non-" attached to "killing," the gerund of "kill." The prefix "non-" comes from Latin "non," meaning "not," and it has been used freely in English to negate nouns, adjectives and participles, so "nonkilling" simply means "not involving killing." The word is most often applied to a situation, such as a society, a policy or a conflict, in which no one is killed. The compound's value lies in its precision. English already has "peaceful" and "nonviolent," but these describe a general mood or method, whereas "nonkilling" specifies the absence of homicide itself, which allows it to be used in discussions of conflicts where violence occurs but no one dies. The construction shows how English builds fresh technical terms by combining an existing negating prefix with an everyday word, rather than by importing vocabulary from classical languages.

Synonyms: peaceful, nonviolent, harmonious, gentle, non-aggressive

Antonyms: violent, aggressive, hostile, belligerent, warlike