Peacebreaker

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who interrupts serenity by inciting conflict or chaos
2. Someone who causes disturbance by interrupting calm or harmony
3. An individual who initiates disorder and breaks tranquil conditions

Etymology: "Peacebreaker" is a plain compound of "peace" and "breaker," and its meaning follows directly from those parts. "Peace" comes from Old French "pais," from Latin "pax," and has meant public order and freedom from violence since Old English times. A "breaker" is one who breaks something, so a peacebreaker is someone who disrupts that order, whether by fighting, rioting, or stirring up trouble in a community. The compound's older legal sense is the more revealing one. In earlier English, to "break the peace" was a formal offence, the disturbance of the king's or the community's public order, and the word carried that weight. The modern meaning of "person causing trouble" is a looser, everyday extension of that legal idea, with the sense of disturbance kept but the formality dropped.

Synonyms: troublemaker, instigator, agitator

Antonyms: peacemaker, reconciler