means The principled refusal to use physical force or harm, especially as a moral philosophy or strategy for political and social change.

from A 19th-century compound built from Latin pieces: 'non-' meaning 'not,' plus 'violence,' which traces back to Latin 'violentia' (vehemence, impetuosity), from 'violentus' (forceful), kin to 'vis' (force, strength). So the word literally negates 'force' — though it gained its weight in the 20th century as a translation of the Sanskrit 'ahimsa' (literally 'non-harming'), the ancient principle Gandhi made famous, and which Martin Luther King Jr. carried into the American civil rights movement.