appease
Americanverb (used with object)
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to bring to a state of peace, quiet, ease, calm, or contentment; pacify; soothe.
to appease an angry king.
- Antonyms:
- enrage
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to satisfy, allay, or relieve; assuage.
The fruit appeased his hunger.
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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
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to calm, pacify, or soothe, esp by acceding to the demands of
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to satisfy or quell (an appetite or thirst, etc)
Synonym Usage
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
Derived Forms
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appeasablenessnoun
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appeasementnoun
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appeasernoun
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appeasableadjective
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nonappeasableadjective
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nonappeasingadjective
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unappeasableadjective
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unappeasedadjective
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unappeasingadjective
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appeasablyadverb
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appeasinglyadverb
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unappeasablyadverb
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unappeasinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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appeasesimple
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appeasessimple
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have appeasedperfect
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has appeasedperfect
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am appeasingprogressive
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are appeasingprogressive
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is appeasingprogressive
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have been appeasingperfect progressive
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has been appeasingperfect progressive
Past
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appeasedsimple
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had appeasedperfect
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was appeasingprogressive
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were appeasingprogressive
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had been appeasingperfect progressive
Future
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
Explanation
Appease means to make or preserve peace with a nation, group, or person by giving in to their demands, or to relieve a problem, as in "the cold drink appeased his thirst." Appease often implies abandoning your moral principles to satisfy the demands of someone who is greedy for power: think of British Prime Minister Chamberlain's attempt to appease the Nazis at Munich. The verb appease comes from the Old French apaisier, "to pacify, make peace, or be reconciled," from the phrase "a paisier," which combines a-, or "to," and pais, "peace," from the Latin pax.
Vocabulary lists containing appease
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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:
She said it was "a tough one because I have a lot of palettes to appease", with her British-born husband favouring "meat, potatoes and cream sauce" while she preferred grilled fish.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
Yet the retreats have done little to appease Washington.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
OpenAI in June voluntarily limited access to its GPT-5.6 family of new models — Sol, Terra and Luna — to “trusted partners” in an effort to appease the government.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 16, 2026
Year after year we endured a mishmash roster with his hand-picked players, just to appease LeBron.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 4, 2026
“If you spill salt, you have to throw some over your left shoulder to appease the evil spirits. No big deal.”
From "A Mango-Shaped Space" by Wendy Mass
She appeases me by telling me I will be the first person to know when it's finished.
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2025
HBO’s drama expands a beloved video game into a series that appeases longtime fans and appeals to new viewers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 12, 2023
An awkward locution, but it appeases the sensitivity police.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 8, 2023
While encryption has been a hot topic for tech companies and law enforcement for some time, the Apple case represents a growing frustration with the inability to find a solution that appeases both sides.
From Washington Times ● Feb. 17, 2016
I look between them, hoping that my solution appeases both of them.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
Beyond Meat appeased Nasdaq regulators this past week by finally filing its 2025 annual report, but there’s still another matter the onetime alternative-protein darling has to deal with to keep its stock from being delisted.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 12, 2026
Los Blancos were in charge but despite taking the lead, their fans were not appeased, and whistled the team in at the break.
From Barron's ● Feb. 1, 2026
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.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 12, 2025
Tensions were eventually appeased, though, as the former Barcelona player worked his way back into the team and claimed the unlikely false-nine role as his own.
From BBC ● Mar. 5, 2025
Have I become, suddenly, one of those who must be appeased?
From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood
He also pledged a break from the Petro policy of appeasing criminal gangs, vowing to build mega prisons to get their recruits off the streets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026
However Wilson's lawyer Dauid Sibtain said that MacInnes lied by denying she had complained to Wilson "to ensure that her career as an actress and musician progressed by appeasing Ms Ghost".
From BBC ● Apr. 20, 2026
McDonald’s and Oracle are among the growing list of clients choosing to part ways with the appeasing firms.
From Salon ● Jun. 2, 2025
She knows what she likes and the type of art that sells under her brand, she said, and does not waste words appeasing the egos of artists or customers who do not understand the mission.
From New York Times ● Dec. 5, 2023
Most of them, especially those who came to the principality as new men, when they recognized the difficulty resulting from the two opposing humours, turned to appeasing the soldiers, caring little about injuring the people.
From "The Prince" by Niccolò Machiavelli
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.
