Synonyms

reconcile

American

[rek-uhn-sahyl] / ˈrɛk ənˌsaɪl /

verb (used with object)

to cause (a person) to accept or be resigned to something not desired.

He was reconciled to his fate.
to win over to friendliness; cause to become amicable.

to reconcile hostile persons.

Synonyms:

placate, propitiate, pacify
to compose or settle (a quarrel, dispute, etc.).

Antonyms:

anger
to bring into agreement or harmony; make compatible or consistent.

to reconcile differing statements;
to reconcile accounts.

Synonyms:

harmonize
to reconsecrate (a desecrated church, cemetery, etc.).
to restore (an excommunicate or penitent) to communion in a church.

verb (used without object)

to become reconciled.

reconcile British

/ ˈrɛkənˌsaɪl /

verb

to make (oneself or another) no longer opposed; cause to acquiesce in something unpleasant

she reconciled herself to poverty
to become friendly with (someone) after estrangement or to re-establish friendly relations between (two or more people)
to settle (a quarrel or difference)
to make (two apparently conflicting things) compatible or consistent with each other
to reconsecrate (a desecrated church, etc)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Usage

What does reconcile mean? Reconcile means to make amends, come to a truce, or settle a dispute. Reconcile can also mean to make things compatible or consistent with each other. This sense of the word is especially used when discussing two things that cannot be reconciled, such as two contrasting beliefs. Another sense of the word means to cause to accept a negative situation or become resigned to it, as in I am reconciled to my fate of never being able to afford my dream house. The noun form of reconcile is reconciliation, which refers to the process of reconciling. It’s also the name of a Catholic sacrament involving the confession of sin. Example: After years of not speaking to each other, the two finally sat down and reconciled.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

Etymology

Origin of reconcile

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English reconcilen, from Latin reconciliāre “to make good again, repair,” equivalent to re- re- + conciliāre “to bring together” ( see conciliate)

Explanation

Reach for the verb reconcile to make different things come together or resolve a matter. If you've ever had an argument with someone and then made up, you have reconciled. Reconcile is a verb that can mean "to become resigned" like if you're reconciled to getting the bottom bunk when you wanted the top. It also means to "bring into agreement and harmony." Words like it are pacify, harmonize, and accommodate — reconcile is definitely an agreeable word!

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

reconcile reconciles reconciled reconciling

"That's why it's urgent to foster closer cooperation between the parties to reconcile construction projects with federal legislation on fossils and promote new discoveries while ensuring the proper preservation of our heritage," Mayer comments.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 8, 2026

No definition can reconcile all of these contradictions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026

How should I reconcile the value of that work with everything you’ve described?

From Slate ● Aug. 22, 2026

Near the heavily fortified frontier dividing the Korean peninsula, the abandoned Woljeong-ri station is being recast as a symbol of South Korea's hopes to reconcile with the North.

From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026

He found his comfortable, well-nourished life impossible to reconcile with the grisly images from Camp 14 that played inside his head.

From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden

Investors are waiting to hear how Fed Chair Kevin Warsh reconciles his patient approach to rate policy with his backing of the 2% target.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026

There is nothing that reconciles those two decisions through any logic or law.

From Slate ● Apr. 30, 2026

Another early highlight, Reliquia, chops and splices a chamber quartet into unrecognisable electronic patterns, as Rosalía reconciles herself to the idea that she loves too hard, and locates the beauty in that vulnerability.

From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2025

More like a short story, recounting the evening from Hart’s point of view as he reconciles with the fact that his former creative partner Richard Rodgers has created a hit with Oscar Hammerstein.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2025

Now as with outward necessity, so also with inward; nothing reconciles so thoroughly as a distinct knowledge of it.

From The World As Will And Idea (Vol. 1 of 3) by Arthur Schopenhauer

"That includes several audits. They have now reconciled their historical data, and recently they published a revised bulletin with the historical data, incorporating the findings of the debt," she said.

From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026

It must be reconciled with the desire of medical professionals not to work for free.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026

Dwayne Johnson’s performance in “The Smashing Machine,” for all the film’s flaws, cleverly reconciled the dissonance between the outward images of masculine power and internal feelings of self-loathing.

From Salon ● May 27, 2026

He wrote back, and they reconciled in person when he came to see her in L.A.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 5, 2026

Refuge unfailing in which conflict tempered silenced reconciled.

From "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner

My hope for this country: An ambitious strategy towards reconciling ourselves to the planet.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026

The challenge of reconciling the dilemma was even more formidable than the Protestant ideal of literacy that expected converts to read the Bible and sing out of the Psalter.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026

He told Europe's nuclear summit that "nuclear power is key to reconciling both independence, and thus energy sovereignty, with decarbonisation, and thus carbon neutrality".

From BBC ● Apr. 3, 2026

He and his wife separated after the affair came to light, but were working on reconciling.

From Salon ● Feb. 21, 2026

What comes next is even more difficult: reconciling the new information with what we already know, or think we do.

From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023