truce

English

Etymology

From Middle English trewes, triwes, trues, plural of trewe, triewe, true (“faithfulness, assurance, pact”), from Old English trēowa, singularized plural of trēow, trȳw (“faith; pledge; agreement”), from Proto-West Germanic *treuwu, from Proto-Germanic *trewwō (compare Dutch trouw, German Treue, Danish tro, French trêve ), noun form of *triwwiz (“trusty, faithful”). More at true.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /tɹuːs/
• (US) IPA^(key): /tɹus/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːs

Noun

truce (plural truces)

1. A period of time in which no fighting takes place due to an agreement between the opposed parties.
   • 1732 October 1 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Dr. Cranstoun, “The Objections against a Regimen, Especially a Milk, Seed, and Vegetable Diet, Considered. The Case of the Learned and Ingenous Dr. Cranstoun, in a Letter to the Author at His Desire, in Dr. Cranstoun’s Own Words.”, in George Cheyne, The English Malady: Or, A Treatise of Nervous Diseases of All Kinds, , London: G Strahan ; Bath, Somerset: J. Leake, published 1733, →OCLC, part III (Containing Variety of Cases that Illustrate and Confirm the Foregoing Method of Cure. ), page 321:

     [I]n about ſix VVeeks or tvvo Months, the Dyſentery gave Truce, in vvhich Time I vvas often fretted vvith ſtrangurious Symptoms.

     A figurative use.

2. An agreement between opposed parties in which they pledge to cease fighting for a limited time.
   • 1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter IV, in The Last Man. , volume III, London: Henry Colburn, , →OCLC:

     They should meet that night on some neutral spot to ratify the truce.

   • 2017, Neil Gaiman, Norse Mythology, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 108:

     [T]hey marked their truce by each of them, Aesir and Vanir alike, one by one spitting into a vat. As their spit mingled, so was their agreement made binding.

Synonyms

• armistice
• cease-fire

Translations

Anagrams

• Crute, Curet, cruet, curet, cuter, eruct, recut, uCret

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin trucem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtru.t͡ʃe/
• Rhymes: -utʃe
• Hyphenation: trù‧ce

Adjective

truce (plural truci)

1. grim, menacing

   Synonyms: torvo, minaccioso

2. cruel

   Synonym: crudele

Derived terms

• trucemente

Further reading

• truce in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana