Japanese

Noun

黙殺 ‎(hiragana もくさつ, romaji mokusatsu)

1. ignoring someone's suggestion, opinion, or report.
2. keeping a contemptuous silence

Usage notes

• At the close of World War II, Japanese Premier Kantaro Suzuki used this unfortunate choice of words in his reply to the U.S. demand for Japan's unconditional surrender (the Potsdam Declaration). The meaning has a more passive nuance than "ignore" into which it was translated, so it is theorized that the Allies took his response to be more assertive than he intended it to be, and that this translation error was responsible for events that followed.

Verb

黙殺する ‎(transitive, hiragana もくさつする, romaji mokusatsu suru)

1. to take no notice of
2. to treat with silent contempt
3. to shut one’s eyes
4. to ignore
5. to withhold comment
6. to cut someone dead
7. to withdraw from discussion, a common practice to take pause and reflect on what has been discussed and what the next steps should be

Conjugation

Usage notes

• At the close of World War II, Japanese Premier Kantaro Suzuki used this unfortunate choice of words in his reply to the Allies demand for Japan's unconditional surrender (the Potsdam Declaration).

References

• 2002, Ineko Kondō; Fumi Takano; Mary E Althaus; et. al., Shogakukan Progressive Japanese-English Dictionary, Third Edition, Tokyo: Shōgakukan, ISBN 4095102535.