armistice
n. countablen. a formal agreement between two sides in a war to stop fighting for a certain time. It is not always the end of the war, but it stops the violence so people can talk about peace.
n. a formal agreement between warring parties to cease hostilities, often as a prelude to peace negotiations. It represents a suspension of active combat rather than a final legal termination of the state of war.
The two countries signed an armistice to stop the fighting.
After years of trench warfare, the armistice was finally signed in a railway carriage, bringing the combat to a halt.
While the armistice effectively ended the bloodshed on the front lines, it took several more months of intense diplomatic negotiation to produce a formal peace treaty that satisfied all parties.
From Late Latin armistitium, from Latin arma (“arms, weapons”) + sistēre (from sistō (“to halt, stand still”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand up”)) + -ium (suffix forming abstract nouns). The word is cognate with French armistice, Italian armistizio, Portuguese armistício, Spanish armisticio.
Often used with the verbs 'sign', 'declare', or 'reach'.