appease
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to bring to a state of peace, quiet, ease, calm, or contentment; pacify; soothe.
to appease an angry king.
- Antonyms:
- enrage
-
to satisfy, allay, or relieve; assuage.
The fruit appeased his hunger.
-
to yield or concede to the belligerent demands of (a nation, group, person, etc.) in a conciliatory effort, sometimes at the expense of justice or other principles.
- Antonyms:
- defy
verb
-
to calm, pacify, or soothe, esp by acceding to the demands of
-
to satisfy or quell (an appetite or thirst, etc)
Related Words
Appease, conciliate, propitiate imply trying to preserve or obtain peace. To appease is to make anxious overtures and often undue concessions to satisfy the demands of someone with a greed for power, territory, etc.: Chamberlain tried to appease Hitler at Munich. To conciliate is to win an enemy or opponent over by displaying a willingness to be just and fair: When mutual grievances are recognized, conciliation is possible. To propitiate is to admit a fault, and, by trying to make amends, to allay hostile feeling: to propitiate an offended neighbor.
Other Word Forms
- appeasable adjective
- appeasableness noun
- appeasably adverb
- appeasement noun
- appeaser noun
- appeasingly adverb
- nonappeasable adjective
- nonappeasing adjective
- unappeasable adjective
- unappeasably adverb
- unappeased adjective
- unappeasing adjective
- unappeasingly adverb
Etymology
Origin of appease
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English apesen, from Anglo-French apeser, Old French apais(i)er; equivalent to a- 5 + peace
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.
“The big question is whether this would be enough to appease the Iranian citizenry, given the level of dissatisfaction, rioting and violence we are seeing on the ground at the moment,” she said.
That did not appease the PTPA, which began legal action against the men's and women's tours in March, citing "anti-competitive practices and a blatant disregard for player welfare".
From BBC
And if you think that ignoring their wishes is going to snowball into a larger conflict, you could do one small thing to appease them.
From MarketWatch
A South Korean court acquitted a former national security adviser and other senior officials on Friday after they were accused of trying to cover up a murder to appease Pyongyang.
From Barron's
In January 2022, on the eve of the full-scale assault, he warned that Russia was not a Great Power and should not be appeased.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
