conciliate

American  

[kuhn-sil-ee-ayt] / kənˈsɪl iˌeɪt /

verb (used with object)

• conciliates,
  present (3rd person singular)
• conciliated,
  past participle,  past
• conciliating
  present participle

1. to overcome the distrust or hostility of; placate; win over.

   to conciliate an angry competitor.

2. to win or gain (goodwill, regard, or favor).

3. to make compatible; reconcile.

---

verb (used without object)

• conciliates,
  present (3rd person singular)
• conciliated,
  past participle,  past
• conciliating
  present participle

1. to become agreeable or reconciled.

   Efforts to conciliate in the dispute proved fruitless.

conciliate British  

/ kənˈsɪlɪˌeɪt /

verb

1. to overcome the hostility of; placate; win over

2. to win or gain (favour, regard, etc), esp by making friendly overtures

3. archaic to make compatible; reconcile

---

Synonym Usage

See appease.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• conciliation
  noun
• conciliator
  noun
• conciliable
  adjective
• nonconciliating
  adjective
• proconciliation
  adjective
• unconciliable
  adjective
• unconciliated
  adjective
• unconciliating
  adjective
• conciliatingly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Participles

• conciliating
  present
• conciliated
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• conciliate
  simple
• conciliates
  simple
• have conciliated
  perfect
• has conciliated
  perfect
• am conciliating
  progressive
• are conciliating
  progressive
• is conciliating
  progressive
• have been conciliating
  perfect progressive
• has been conciliating
  perfect progressive

Past

• conciliated
  simple
• had conciliated
  perfect
• was conciliating
  progressive
• were conciliating
  progressive
• had been conciliating
  perfect progressive

Future

• will conciliate
  simple
• will have conciliated
  perfect
• will be conciliating
  progressive
• will have been conciliating
  perfect progressive

---

Etymology

Origin of conciliate

1540–50; < Latin conciliātus (past participle of conciliāre to bring together, unite, equivalent to concili ( um ) council + -ātus -ate ¹

---

Explanation

The verb conciliate means to placate, appease, or pacify. If you are eating at a restaurant and the waiter accidentally spills a drink on you, the manager may try to conciliate you by picking up the tab for your meal. You may be more familiar with the term conciliation ––it can mean the flowers you bring to conciliate your girlfriend after a fight, or a politician's conciliatory offer to fund a new playground to a community that's just lost its school. Conciliate comes from the Latin word conciliare, meaning "to unite." Conciliare in turn comes from the Latin word concilium, meaning "council." If you remember their common etymology, you can remember that, like council, conciliate is spelled with only one l.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

conciliate conciliates conciliated conciliating

They have realized that like-minded countries need to spend more time working with one another and less time trying to conciliate leaders in Beijing and Pyongyang.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 9, 2023

Much as former President Barack Obama once courted congressional Republicans, Tromp sought to conciliate the conservative legislators.

From Salon ● Jun. 29, 2022

He had to reward those who backed him, but many believe he also needed to conciliate those who were unhappy with his election.

From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2021

But both leaders have been put under rare co-ordinated international pressure to conciliate.

From The Guardian ● Mar. 21, 2019

Lyra knew that this was a time to conciliate, and she was happy to do that, having gotten her way.

From "The Amber Spyglass" by Philip Pullman

BARNAVE, at Grenoble, member of Assembly, one of a trio, Jacobin, duel with Cazales, escorts the King from Varennes, conciliates Queen, becomes Constitutional, retires to Grenoble, treason, in prison, guillotined.

From The French Revolution by Thomas Carlyle

This reasonable observation conciliates all, and does not compel us to deny the accounts.

From Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 1 by Isaac Disraeli

If this state of things does not exactly answer to my expectations, it pleases and conciliates Aniela.

From Without Dogma by Henryk Sienkiewicz

Of course if a boy who is incapable of success in athletics does go on playing games perseveringly and good-humouredly, he gets a splendid training, and, as a rule, conciliates respect.

From The Upton Letters by Arthur Christopher Benson

Verse, if it has any enthusiasm, at once demands and conciliates attention; it proposes to say much in little; and it associates with it the idea of something consolatory, or otherwise sustaining.

From Captain Sword and Captain Pen A Poem by Leigh Hunt

I’m further conciliated by Mr. Youngkin’s representation of his state’s recent economic-development wins.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 23, 2026

But of course it had its cost, in the sense that it meant he conciliated.

From Slate ● Jun. 19, 2019

If you notice P losing their cool at the prospect of not being conciliated, don’t respond to their tantrum.

From Slate ● Nov. 20, 2018

The strength of her beliefs gave her the courage to push on where others might have conciliated.

From The Guardian ● Apr. 8, 2013

This General had conciliated the esteem of the public by his inclination to do good, his attention to his duty, and his strict probity.

From Some Account of the Public Life of the Late Lieutenant-General Sir George Prevost, Bart. Particularly of his Services in the Canadas, including a reply to the strictures on his Military Character, Contained in an Article in The Quareterly Review by E. B. Brenton

A French visitor — a conservationist for an NGO and a symbolic representative of the European Union — bleats a few conciliating sentiments but is scornfully shut down.

From New York Times ● Apr. 27, 2023

“However one of the tasks will be conciliating Neymar’s individuality with the team and trying to contain Neymar’s petulance.”

From Washington Post ● Jun. 8, 2018

“This will have the best possible effect upon the men,” said Lee, and “will do much toward conciliating our people.”

From Washington Post

Until then he had seemed fully aware of his delicate role as a possible successor who would be called upon to play a healing and conciliating role if Nixon left office.

From Time Magazine Archive

The chaplain rose quickly and edged away from Yossarian’s bed, and then nodded with a conciliating smile and promised to conduct himself with appropriate caution.

From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---