What's the difference between acquiesce and demur?

Acquiesce


Definition:

  • (v. i.) To rest satisfied, or apparently satisfied, or to rest without opposition and discontent (usually implying previous opposition or discontent); to accept or consent by silence or by omitting to object; -- followed by in, formerly also by with and to.
  • (v. i.) To concur upon conviction; as, to acquiesce in an opinion; to assent to; usually, to concur, not heartily but so far as to forbear opposition.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) If this is what 70s stoners were laughing at, it feels like they’ve already become acquiescent, passive parts of media-relayed consumer society; precursors of the cathode-ray-frazzled pop-culture exegetists of Tarantino and Kevin Smith in the 90s.
  • (2) As a leader writer on a liberal newspaper I feel a bit of duty to acquiesce, but my answer is, "only up to a point".
  • (3) Refusing either to acquiesce in, or to rail at, Eliot's contempt for Jews, one strives to do justice to the many injustices Eliot does to Jews.
  • (4) Tiny Qatar, the richest of them all, leads the region in using wealth to provide subsidised education and food to buy the acquiescence if not the loyalty of their people – who in several countries are outnumbered by expatriate foreigners.
  • (5) Contrary to past survey research, less educated respondents were no more likely to exhibit acquiescence than better educated respondents.
  • (6) The conservatives are unlikely to acquiesce without a fight, and Francis now risks criticism of his papacy up to the highest level, including the bishops – who have so far kept their counsel.
  • (7) Silence is acquiescence,” said Jorge Guajardo, a former Mexican ambassador to China, who argued that the country’s politicians could no longer hope to avoid provoking Trump by staying silent.
  • (8) Despite that crucial fact, WikiLeaks has been crippled by a staggering array of extra-judicial punishment imposed either directly by the US and allied governments or with their clear acquiescence.
  • (9) The resignation this week of President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi , whom the Obama administration had cultivated to permit drone strikes, has left many in US security circles wondering if a post-Hadi government will prove as acquiescent.
  • (10) Either the Polish government reverses its moves to limit the independence of the judiciary, or Europe is seen to acquiesce in the further spread of illiberalism among its own ranks.
  • (11) – his presence ensured that the issue took its place in a mess of other grievances, about his broken vow on tuition fees, the Lib Dems' acquiescence in austerity, and his own alleged uselessness.
  • (12) "Some kind of association with the UN – or some kind of Anglo-American trusteeship – could meet our requirements if only the Argentinians could be brought to acquiesce to it," Sir Robert Armstrong, the cabinet secretary, advised Thatcher on 25 May.
  • (13) Her physician considers acquiescing and risking a premature delivery, transferring the patient to a compliant physician, or obtaining a court order to force treatment.
  • (14) "For the most part the rewards for acquiescing to GOC demands are risible: pomp-full dinners and meetings and, for the most pliant, a photo op with one of the Castro brothers.
  • (15) Standardization procedures have reduced markedly the acquiescence factor and the correlations among the dysphoric affect scales in the MAACL-R.
  • (16) This added to the deflationary impact of higher import prices arising from the massive – but necessary – devaluation of the pound in which the Treasury and the Bank of England had acquiesced.
  • (17) Jeremy Corbyn is criticised in much of the media for questioning a system that engorges a tiny minority of wealthy executives while buying the acquiescence of millions through a pampered existence of material excess.
  • (18) You cannot expect a child to acquiesce when you want them to, and then magically grow up to "know their own mind".
  • (19) There are clear connections between campaigns to defeat bills that would improve the health of blacks and other disadvantaged groups and acquiescence with the present reassignment of them to the underfunded, overcrowded, inferior, public health-care sector.
  • (20) Abbott has some points of easy agreement with this group, and has acquiesced already on a substantial proportion of the IPA's policy wish-list.

Demur


Definition:

  • (v. i.) To linger; to stay; to tarry.
  • (v. i.) To delay; to pause; to suspend proceedings or judgment in view of a doubt or difficulty; to hesitate; to put off the determination or conclusion of an affair.
  • (v. i.) To scruple or object; to take exception; as, I demur to that statement.
  • (v. i.) To interpose a demurrer. See Demurrer, 2.
  • (v. t.) To suspend judgment concerning; to doubt of or hesitate about.
  • (v. t.) To cause delay to; to put off.
  • (v. i.) Stop; pause; hesitation as to proceeding; suspense of decision or action; scruple.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) His monstrous wardrobe, his entourages of 300 or 400 ferried in four aeroplanes, his huge bedouin tent, complete with accompanying camel, pitched in public parks or in the grounds of five-star hotels – and his bodyguards of gun-toting young women, who, though by no means hiding their charms beneath demure Islamic veils, were all supposedly virgins, and sworn to give their lives for their leader.
  • (2) When the time came for Mayer to give a speech, she demurred for a moment before standing.
  • (3) Strange then that among my generation of friends, adolescent in the early 1980s, there was a sort of discretion verging on the demure when it came to discussing contraception.
  • (4) Pressed on whether the upheaval has reached him, Frost repeatedly, if unsurprisingly, demurs.
  • (5) I’d ask that, instead of demanding black voters’ unquestioning loyalty to Sanders, they interrogate what racism is before demurring to a class analysis that still leaves my working-class family members dead in the street.
  • (6) The Villa clamours for attention on the waterfront, the embarrassingly shouty younger sibling of its more demure neighbour, the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations (Mucem).
  • (7) Pressed in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in mid-October, he demurred.
  • (8) Asked by the Associated Press whether her instant fame had led her to think about higher political office – there has been speculation she could run against Perry for the governor's mansion or attempt to gain a Texas seat in the US senate – she demurred.
  • (9) Asked directly if it was fair to say that Obama has been a better president for America than Putin has been for Russia, Cornyn demurred: “I’m not gonna go down that path.” Bob Corker, the senator from Tennessee who chairs the Senate foreign relations committee, also initially said he was no longer responding to each one of Trump’s controversial statements.
  • (10) The Pope liked Benedictines and told Hume, when he demurred at the appointment, that he was asking him to accept "the call of the Lord."
  • (11) This has gone from being a matter of curiosity, and a matter of politics, to being a national security issue.” Trump demurred on Wednesday when asked if he would release his tax returns before the November election, saying it was “not a big deal” and that he had released 104 pages of documents related to his business dealings.
  • (12) The three Alexander McQueen outfits that made the most front pages from the Duchess of Cambridge's recent tour wardrobe were: a sky blue belted knee-length coat, accessorised with navy round-toe suede shoes and a matching clutch bag; a demure dove grey coat with a jaunty grey hat; and a ballet-shoe pink peplum top and skirt, which the duchess wore with LK Bennett courts and pearl drop earrings.
  • (13) Upon learning that an internal campaign memo had instructed surrogates to demur on questions about Trump University, Trump said in a conference call on Monday that they instead should attack journalists who raised the point.
  • (14) The alternative would be to break out of character at the end, and demurely ask for money – which, again, would rather break the spell.
  • (15) Accommodation was provided by Le Manoir in Gemenos (doubles from €90 a night), Domaine de Valbrillant in Meyreuil (from €75) and Le Demure Insoupconnée in Cassis (from €130).
  • (16) He has generally been seen as a Labour supporter and doesn't demur when I mention that perception, so would the coming of a Conservative government next year present problems for him?
  • (17) If the Italian is seen as high maintenance his appointment is also regarded as a high-stakes gamble on Short's part, but Di Canio demurred.
  • (18) "We should put a spit up his ass," said Susan Hennesy, a demure-looking software engineer who works a few blocks away.
  • (19) Bankers are seen as greedy, librarians as demure, journalists as sleazy, nurses as angels and estate agents as dishonest.
  • (20) That may have come as a surprise to the assembled dignitaries, but of course none demurred.