Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To consent or comply passively or without protest: synonym: assent.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To come to rest, or remain at rest.
  • To agree; consent; tacitly assent; quietly comply or submit: as, to acquiesce in an opinion, argument, or arrangement.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To rest satisfied, or apparently satisfied, or to rest without opposition and discontent (usually implying previous opposition or discontent); to accept or consent by silence or by omitting to object; -- followed by in, formerly also by with and to.
  • intransitive verb To concur upon conviction; ; to assent to; usually, to concur, not heartily but so far as to forbear opposition.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb intransitive To rest satisfied, or apparently satisfied, or to rest without opposition and discontent (usually implying previous opposition or discontent); to accept or consent by silence or by omitting to object; — followed by "in", sometimes also by "with" and "to".
  • verb intransitive To concur upon conviction; as, to acquiesce in an opinion; to assent to; usually, to concur, not heartily but so far as to forbear opposition.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb to agree or express agreement

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin acquiēscere : ad-, ad- + quiēscere, to rest; see kweiə- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle French acquiescer, from Latin acquiescere; ad + quiescere ("to be quiet"), from quies ("rest").

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Examples

  • But if we again acquiesce we will be reduced to sad and pathetic footnotes in our accelerating transformation from a democracy to a totalitarian corporate state.

    Matthew Yglesias » Government for Sale 2010

  • Off the top of my head, "acquiesce" is pretty cool.

    Archive 2005-09-01 2005

  • Off the top of my head, "acquiesce" is pretty cool.

    questions questions too many questions 2005

  • Instead of me going through life hoping that God is following me around in whatever mess I find myself in this time, it’s actually him that’s leading the way through it all if I acquiesce, that is.

    Archive 2007-09-01 Belinda 2007

  • Instead of me going through life hoping that God is following me around in whatever mess I find myself in this time, it’s actually him that’s leading the way through it all if I acquiesce, that is.

    Who's Following Who? Susan 2007

  • But … there are reasons why parties have developed and that is because they operate as vehicles by which like minded people can coalesce around similar ideological and/or philosophical stances and generate programmes which they can then bring to the electorate and gain acceptance (or is the term 'acquiesce'?).

    The Cedar Lounge Revolution 2010

  • She not only used "acquiesce" in a song way before Noel Gallagher made such a fanfare of doing so, but deployed it perfectly:

    Word Magazine - Comments dave_walker 2009

  • [If this question has to be answered, the IPKat predicts a Delphic response along the lines of "it's up to the referring court to apply its own law to the facts".] (c) in any case, is it necessary that the proprietor of a trade mark should have his trade mark registered before he can begin to "acquiesce" in the use by another of (i) an identical or (ii) a confusingly similar mark?

    The IPKat - supporting prudent IP use 2009

  • She not only used "acquiesce" in a song way before Noel Gallagher made such a fanfare of doing so, but deployed it perfectly:

    Word Magazine - 2009

  • (b) is it necessary that the proprietor of a trade mark should have his trade mark registered before he can begin to "acquiesce" in the use by another of (i) an identical or

    The IPKat - supporting prudent IP use 2009

Comments

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  • "I'm disinclined to acquiesce to your request. Means no!." -Captain Barbossa from Pirates of The Caribbean

    January 16, 2008

  • Heard in Emilie Autumn – Save You:

    How do I save you from a fate so sweet

    As being torn to pieces by a loving hand

    How do I save you from a voice so soft

    As that which acquiesces to your each demand

    [. . .]”

    December 12, 2009

  • Prefer the Adv. form

    September 3, 2012

  • To accept or comply, or agree passively

    July 8, 2014

  • "Elizabeth said no more—but her mind could not acquiesce. The possibility of meeting Mr. Darcy, while viewing the place, instantly occurred. It would be dreadful! She blushed at the very idea, and thought it would be better to speak openly to her aunt than to run such a risk." - Pride and Prejudice by Jane Aisten

    August 18, 2015