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The Long History of Amity
Amity comes from the Latin word for "friend," amicus, and is used especially for relationships between political leaders and nations in which goodwill is shown despite differences that might exist between the two parties. Amicus is also the root of the adjectives amiable and amicable.
Synonyms
Examples of amity in a Sentence
Dan Piepenbring, Harper's Magazine, 16 Oct. 2023
This initial amity was very short-lived: The prosperous and generous Native American tribes of Southern California were conquered by Spanish settlers, then enslaved by imperious theologians to launch a mission-building campaign that stretched from San Diego to San Francisco.
—Louis Sahagún, Los Angeles Times, 9 Oct. 2023
The vernacular liturgy, the modern angular church architecture, the emphasis on amity with other Christian churches and other faiths that came after Vatican II were all a good fit with the populous, influential, flexible, and prosperous American Church.
—Paul Elie, The New Yorker, 18 Sep. 2023
Many have celebrated this newfound amity as the end of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
—Kenneth M. Pollack, Foreign Affairs, 19 Apr. 2022
The space station was meant to be a marvel of peaceful post-Cold War amity between Moscow and Washington, drawing Russia into the community of international collaboration and preventing Russian rocket engineers from selling expertise to countries like North Korea seeking to build better missiles.
—New York Times, 30 Mar. 2022
In the end, amity won out between the two painters.
—Christopher Parker, Smithsonian Magazine, 5 Apr. 2023
It was returned to Scotland in 1996 by command of Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in an act of amity and now comes again to this place by command of King Charles III as an act of unity and a symbol of friendship.
—Cara Lynn Shultz, Peoplemag, 1 May 2023
Nations like like Indonesia, India, or Brazil, predicated on utopian diversity myths actually have to work very hard to maintain inter-ethnic amity, even in the face of extensive hybridization.
—Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 30 Oct. 2012
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'amity.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near amity
Cite this Entry
“Amity.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/amity. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.
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amity
noun
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