peacetime

Etymology

It is formed from English peace + time,^[2][3][4] after the older wartime.^[2] Etymonline files it as “peace-time”.^[3] Peace is from Anglo-Norman pes, from Latin pāx,^[3] and time is from Old English tīma.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The time when a country is not at war: before 1542, in the poem The Image of Ypocresye, perhaps composed about 1533.^[2] Merriam-Webster dates it about 1534,^[5] Dictionary.com to 1545–55 and Etymonline to the 1550s.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

The word was modelled on wartime, which the OED records from about 1325.^[2] From 1701 it could also be a count noun, a period of peace, chiefly in American use, and colloquially in the plural.^[2] The adjectival use, of or typical of peacetime, is recorded from 1862,^[2] and the word is often used attributively.^[5][6]

Timeline

• before 1542 – the time when a country is not at war.^[2]
• 1701 – chiefly US, a period when a country is not at war.^[2]
• 1862 – adjective, of or characteristic of peacetime.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A time when a nation is not at war: Rationing ended a few years into peacetime.^[5][6][2]

Adjective

1. Of, during or typical of a time of peace: the peacetime army.^[6][2]

Related words

• wartime
• peace

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins