Conflict & Diplomacy — C1 English Vocabulary

Using conflict & diplomacy words in English

Diplomatic English is the most French vocabulary in the language, and several words on this page keep their accents and their pronunciation: détente, communiqué, attaché, rapprochement. The page also flags appeasement, which is not a neutral word in English and has not been since 1938 — a case where historical context has permanently coloured meaning.

What to watch out for

• The French loans keep their accents

  Détente means an easing of tension between states. A communiqué is an official statement issued after talks. An attaché is a specialist diplomat attached to an embassy. Rapprochement is the re-establishment of friendly relations. All four retain French pronunciation in careful English, and dropping the accents in writing is increasingly common but still looks careless in formal prose.

• Appeasement carries the 1930s with it

  The word simply means making concessions to avoid conflict, but since the policy towards Nazi Germany in the 1930s it has been irretrievably pejorative in English: calling a policy appeasement is an accusation of weakness and short-sightedness. If you mean negotiated compromise without that charge, use conciliation, accommodation or a negotiated settlement.

• The scale of agreements, and -manship

  An overture is an initial approach; an accord is an agreement, less formal than a treaty; an ultimatum is a final demand backed by a threat, with the plural ultimatums now preferred to ultimata. Brinkmanship — pushing a confrontation to the edge of disaster to extract concessions — shows the -manship suffix, which also gives statesmanship and gamesmanship.

Words learners mix up

Diplomatic vocabulary is precise about three things ordinary English blurs: who is carrying the message, whether talks have merely stopped or genuinely improved, and what category a fighter or an act falls into.

Collocations that sound natural

Almost every noun here takes one verb and refuses the others. Diplomatic reporting is formulaic by design, because the formula signals exactly how much has been committed to.

• ultimatum

  issue an ultimatumdeliver an ultimatuman ultimatum expiresreject an ultimatum

  You issue or deliver it — never make or give.

• hostilities

  hostilities broke outa cessation of hostilitiesresume hostilitiessuspend hostilities

  Plural only in this sense. A cessation of hostilities is the formal phrase for a stop short of a peace treaty.

• blockade

  impose a blockadelift a blockadea naval blockaderun a blockade

  Imposed and lifted, like sanctions. Run a blockade means to break through one.

• olive branch

  extend an olive branchoffer an olive branchhold out an olive branch

  A fixed idiom for a gesture of peace, from the biblical dove. The verb is extend, offer or hold out.

• disarmament

  nuclear disarmamentmultilateral disarmamentunilateral disarmament

  Uncountable. The distinction between unilateral — doing it alone — and multilateral is the whole of the political argument.

• reparations

  pay reparationsdemand reparationswar reparationsreparations for

  Plural only, and it means compensation paid by a defeated or responsible state.

See the full C1 collocations list →

Formal, neutral or informal?

Much of this vocabulary is loaded: several words are used only by one side of an argument, and two carry historical weight a learner may not hear.

• hawkish / dovishPolitical idiomA hawk favours military force, a dove negotiation. From debates over Vietnam, and now standard even in economic reporting, where a hawkish central banker favours higher interest rates.
• pacifyHistorically loadedIn ordinary use, to calm someone. In military and colonial history pacification named campaigns to suppress populations, often violently — an irony modern writing should either avoid or acknowledge.
• brinkmanshipJournalisticPushing a dangerous confrontation to the edge to force concessions. Coined for Cold War diplomacy, uncountable, and it always implies recklessness.
• annihilateHyperbole in general useTo destroy completely. Its literal use belongs to warfare, but in sport and argument it is routine exaggeration: annihilated in the second half.
• entente / concordat / amityFormal · archaicEntente is a friendly understanding between states, surviving mainly in historical names; a concordat is a formal agreement, especially with the Church; amity is a literary word for friendship. Recognise them; do not produce them.
• displacementHumanitarian termPeople forced to leave their homes. Note that internally displaced people have not crossed a border and so are not legally refugees — a distinction that matters in aid reporting.
• proliferationNuclear contextThe spread of weapons, above all nuclear ones — hence the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Outside that field it simply means rapid increase: a proliferation of apps.
• warmongerPejorativeSomeone who encourages war. Purely an insult, and never a description anyone accepts of themselves; the neutral phrase is an advocate of intervention.

Sentences to try

Four frames from diplomatic reporting. Watch the accents and the loaded word.

• The two governments issued a joint communiqué.
• A period of détente followed the summit.
• Critics described the concession as appeasement.
• The envoy delivered the ultimatum in person.

Questions about conflict & diplomacy vocabulary