doves

noun

plural of dove
1
as in pacifists
a person who opposes war or warlike policies the doves were in favor of using the surplus to improve the nation's schools and not its weapons systems

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in angels
an innocent or gentle person he's a dove who wouldn't hurt a fly

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of doves The memorial, which features sculptures of an angel and bronze doves, is located in a cemetery that is also home to the world’s largest Catholic mausoleum. — Luis Andres Henao, Los Angeles Times, 9 Oct. 2026 Lizzie’s desire to kill her parents is inflamed, for example, by Abby (Rebecca Hall) killing her beloved doves. — Randall Colburn, Entertainment Weekly, 24 Sep. 2026 Monster depicts Lizzie keeping a great number of doves as her dear pets, housing them in an elaborate coop out back. — Elisabeth Garber-Paul, Rolling Stone, 23 Sep. 2026 The outlet added that doves were released outside the church before guests moved inside for the ceremony. — Julia Moore, PEOPLE, 20 Sep. 2026 The Lizzie Borden Story lifts Abby out of mythological passivity and puts her at the center of events, perhaps most significantly by having her kill Lizzie’s pet doves. — Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 18 Sep. 2026 The 5% benchmark While debt hawks and doves might debate the importance of the 5% threshold being hit, UBS’s Paul Donovan points out that the number actually means very little in a real economic sense. — Eleanor Pringle, Fortune, 15 Sep. 2026 Unlike quail or pheasants, doves won't run ahead of a hunter wading through vegetation. — Bryan Hendricks, Arkansas Online, 6 Sep. 2026 Everyone likes to eat the doves, but wood pigeons are the real treat. — Alex Robinson, Outdoor Life, 12 Aug. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for doves
  1. pacifists
  2. angels
  3. innocents
  4. sheep
  5. lambs
Noun
  • However, it was criticized by pacifists at home and China for deviating from Japan’s postwar self-defense only principle.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 27 Apr. 2026
  • All voiceover in the film is detached from the images, from a mixture of unidentified community folk who are content to speak anonymously, and neighboring outsiders perplexed by these out-of-time pacifists.
    — Guy Lodge, Variety, 21 Nov. 2025
Definition of pacifists
Noun
  • None of Wiseman’s institutional portraits have the voices of angels talking to the guy in charge.
    — Alex Barasch, Vulture, 19 Oct. 2026
  • The woman understood from her hasty reading that perhaps all miracles could be attributed to saints and angels if they were experienced by a believer.
    — Ellen O’Connell Whittet, Literary Hub, 7 Oct. 2026
Definition of angels
Noun
  • How can Christians, who both grieve and celebrate the sacrifice of Jesus, support a flawed justice system that inevitably executes innocents?
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 20 Oct. 2026
  • On that terrible day, millions of Americans witnessed airplanes flying into buildings, people jumping off skyscrapers, and the Twin Towers collapsing with thousands of innocents inside.
    — Foreign Affairs, Foreign Affairs, 18 Aug. 2026
Definition of innocents
Noun
  • It is most commonly reported in cattle, but there have also been cases in sheep, goats, horses and alpaca.
    — Deidre McPhillips, CNN Money, 23 Oct. 2026
  • The winemaking team uses a herd of Texel sheep during the late winter and early spring to improve soil structure and fertility.
    — Mike DeSimone, Robb Report, 23 Oct. 2026
Definition of sheep
Noun
  • By the third episode, murderous Jason begins to more prominently feature in episodes, and the gory deaths begin, as a swarm of innocent hippies ignore warnings and are drawn into the camp, like lambs to the slaughter.
    — Ashley Belanger, ArsTechnica, 23 Oct. 2026
  • The Livestock Birthing Barn celebrated more than 90 animal births of piglets, goats, calves, lambs and chicks.
    — Ella Gonzales, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of lambs

Browse Nearby Words

dovecotes
doves
dovetail
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Doves.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/doves. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of milieu

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Why do we 'bury the lede?'

'Za' and 9 Other Words to Help You Win at SCRABBLE
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
different halloween monsters in silhouette
A Monstrous Vocab Quiz Words That Go Bump in the Night
See All