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acquiescent

Adjective
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

An adjective describing someone quietly willing to accept another’s decision, authority, or condition without objection, resistance, or active protest.

Detailed Definition
Acquiescent describes a quiet, yielding acceptance, often with little resistance or argument. In poetry, it can suggest emotional resignation or passive consent rather than active agreement.
Example
Example in poetry:
“With resigned and acquiescent heart” describes willing acceptance, often after resistance; “The river moved acquiescent beneath the bridge” personifies quiet yielding; “Not acquiescent, she revised the rule” clarifies the contrast with refusal; In political poetry, an acquiescent crowd may imply troubling compliance with power
Additional Notes
The word in the line is a more formal, less common synonym for passive acceptance, so many readers may need to look it up.; Found in the poem, Estrangement by William Watson
Also Known As
submissive compliant yielding acquiescing
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