1. A formal agreement to temporarily end military fighting by mutual consent; a truce: For the holiday the opponents decided on an armistice and both sides wanted peace talks in hopes of ending the conflict.
2. Etymology: from French armistice, coined on the model of Latin solstitium, from Latin arma, "arms" + -stitium which is from Latin sistere, "to cause to stand, to come to a stop, to make stand still".