amicable

amicable, neighborly, friendly are applied to the attitudes and actions of persons, communities, and states that have intercourse with each other and mean marked by or exhibiting goodwill or absence of antagonism.

Amicable frequently implies little more than that the parties concerned are not disposed to quarrel or are at peace with each other

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an amicable adjustment

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the sometimes amicable processes of bargaining between a federation of employers and a trade union— Hobson

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Neighborly sometimes suggests goodwill and kindliness and a disposition to live on good terms with those with whom one must associate because of their proximity

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the only encirclement sought is the encircling bond of good old-fashioned neighborly friendship— Roosevelt

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Very often, however, because of connotations acquired from scriptural uses of neighbor, especially in the parable of the Good Samaritan (“which now of these three . . . was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves? ”) it implies the duty of helpfulness and the spirit of fellowship

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he hath a neighborly charity in him— Shak.

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he in a very neighborly manner admonished me— Swift

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Friendly is more positive in its implications of cordiality than either of the others and often suggests greater warmth of feeling

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a friendly nod

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a friendly call

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their relations are friendly

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a friendly correspondence as neighbors and old acquaintances— Franklin

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Analogous words: peaceful, *pacific, peaceable: harmonious, concordant, accordant (see corresponding nouns at HARMONY): *social, gregarious, cooperative, hospitable

Antonyms: antagonistic

Contrasted words: quarrelsome, contentious, *belligerent, bellicose, pugnacious, combative: hostile, antipathetic (see corresponding nouns at ENMITY)