as in obedience
a readiness or willingness to yield to the wishes of others
good manners demanded our cheerful acquiescence to our host's plans for dinner
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Recent Examples of acquiescence
The Enlightenment faith in reason, science, and free speech, already weakened by the First World War, had been devastated by an unprecedented bureaucracy of mass death, sustained by technology, systematic deceit, widespread gullibility, and eager acquiescence.
—
Victor J. Blue, Harpers Magazine, 23 Nov. 2025
Ukraine ultimately won the United States’ limited acquiescence.
—Rebecca Lissner, Foreign Affairs, 14 Nov. 2025
Would-be autocrats create environments of fear and powerlessness, using intimidation, overwhelming force or political and legal attacks, and other coercive tactics to force acquiescence and chill democratic pushback.
—Shelley Inglis, The Conversation, 19 Oct. 2025
Yet, the lesson of the Voting Rights Act is that the response to these setbacks isn’t despair or acquiescence.
—Time, 12 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for acquiescence
Victor J. Blue, Harpers Magazine, 23 Nov. 2025
Ukraine ultimately won the United States’ limited acquiescence.
—Rebecca Lissner, Foreign Affairs, 14 Nov. 2025
Would-be autocrats create environments of fear and powerlessness, using intimidation, overwhelming force or political and legal attacks, and other coercive tactics to force acquiescence and chill democratic pushback.
—Shelley Inglis, The Conversation, 19 Oct. 2025
Yet, the lesson of the Voting Rights Act is that the response to these setbacks isn’t despair or acquiescence.
—Time, 12 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for acquiescence
Recent Examples of Synonyms for acquiescence
Noun
-
Fear Gets Results, Niceness Builds Loyalty Fear creates compliance and obedience.—
Kelly Ehlers,
Rolling Stone,
10 Feb. 2026
-
In democratic systems, coercive force does not generate obedience through strength alone.—
Robert Pape,
Chicago Tribune,
8 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Thus, weighing the burdens and benefits of treatment is best undertaken by parents, with their child’s assent and guided by clinician expertise.—
Amy Caruso Brown,
STAT,
30 Jan. 2026
-
But in 2024, a state commission backed the road, with the assent of Osceola and over the objections of Orange and many members of the local environmental community.—
Stephen Hudak,
The Orlando Sentinel,
12 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Even so, these controversies have demonstrated that what artists say about this issue is not treated with the deference that creative expression is traditionally afforded in democracies.—
Spencer Kornhaber,
The Atlantic,
11 Feb. 2026
-
Traditionally judges have reviewed agency moves with deference.—
Michael McCann,
Sportico.com,
5 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
But for Coles, his indoctrination to law enforcement has been a different level of submissiveness.—
Dan Pompei,
New York Times,
2 Dec. 2025
-
In Killers of the Flower Moon, his Ernest Burkhart starts off as a mopey, weak-minded World War One veteran, eager to do anything for his godfather uncle (Robert De Niro), but there’s still a certain likability to his dim-bulb submissiveness.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
2 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Acquiescence.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/acquiescence. Accessed 17 Feb. 2026.
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