propitiate
Americanverb (used with object)
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propitiates,
present (3rd person singular)
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propitiated,
past participle, past
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propitiating
present participle
verb
Usage
What does propitiate mean? Propitiate means to gain the favor of or make things right with someone, especially after having done something wrong. The noun form of propitiate is propitiation. Close synonyms of propitiate are conciliate and appease. Propitiate is commonly used in a religious context. It’s especially used in Christianity to refer to the act of propitiation that Christians believe Jesus made to atone for sin—or to the atonement that Christians believe they should make to God. Example: To gain redemption, we must do our best to propitiate—to earn the favor we have lost.
Synonym Usage
See appease.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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propitiationnoun
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propitiatornoun
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nonpropitiableadjective
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nonpropitiativeadjective
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propitiableadjective
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propitiatiousadjective
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propitiativeadjective
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unpropitiableadjective
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unpropitiatedadjective
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unpropitiatingadjective
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unpropitiativeadjective
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propitiatinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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propitiatesimple
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propitiatessimple
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have propitiatedperfect
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has propitiatedperfect
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am propitiatingprogressive
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are propitiatingprogressive
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is propitiatingprogressive
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have been propitiatingperfect progressive
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has been propitiatingperfect progressive
Past
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propitiatedsimple
-
had propitiatedperfect
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was propitiatingprogressive
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were propitiatingprogressive
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had been propitiatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of propitiate
1635–45; < Latin propitiātus, past participle of propitiāre to appease. See propitious, -ate 1
Explanation
If you forgot flowers on your grandma's birthday, you can still propitiate her by sending a bouquet the next day. Propitiate means to appease someone or make them happy by doing a particular thing. Handy strategy for lovers, too. One of the most common uses of propitiate historically was in the sense of appeasing the gods, often with a gift in the form of an animal or human sacrifice. Fortunately, for most people today flowers and candy will do the trick. But then again, some Moms can be tough to appease.
Vocabulary lists containing propitiate
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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:
Before he was reinstated, the Anderson School’s Faculty Executive Committee tried to propitiate the mob by announcing itself “saddened” by Klein’s “troubling conduct.”
From Washington Post ● Oct. 8, 2021
I suspect that Oskar probably still believes that it was just something in my nature: that somebody needed to be sacrificed on the altar on the way to propitiate whatever, and that that was him.
From Slate ● Jun. 28, 2016
Was it just to tell the date or propitiate some mountain deity?
From The Guardian ● Feb. 8, 2013
But under the logic of the bailout, the markets were in charge, and the overarching aim of the government was to propitiate them to avoid disaster.
From New York Times ● Jun. 25, 2010
Especially I felt this when I made any attempt to propitiate him.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
Of William’s father, who propitiates a wealthy relative, we read: “he wasn’t a mercenary man, but this was his only rich unmarried aunt.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026
One of nobler birth propitiates only the spirits of his own ancestors.
From The Soul of the Far East by Percival Lowell
They believe that shaving the head of the dead propitiates the deities in their favour.
From Sketches of Japanese Manners and Customs by Jacob Mortimer Wier Silver
There is a humble, civil air about the people in the Vallée d'Ossau, which propitiates one: the berret is always taken off as a stranger passes, and a kind salutation uniformly given.
From Béarn and the Pyrenees A Legendary Tour to the Country of Henri Quatre by Louisa Stuart Costello
While it powerfully propitiates the reader, it almost converts condemnation into compassion.
From Reminiscences of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey by Joseph Cottle
True to form, Iranians haven't been propitiated by such gestures.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 8, 2026
I promise I won't let our multithreaded discussion veer too far down the red carpet, but the Oscars are the Oscars; their vestal fires burn, their gods must be propitiated.
From Slate ● Jan. 16, 2014
For 700 years the Romans propitiated a special god of stem rust, Robigo.
From Time Magazine Archive
They must be fed and put to sleep, propitiated with hymns, songs and prayers.
From Time Magazine Archive
The gods had to be propitiated, and a vast industry of priests and oracles arose to make the gods less angry.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
He suggests that they may have perceived the cave walls as a kind of membrane between their world and the spirits, and thus created their paintings as a means of propitiating them.
From The Guardian ● May 23, 2020
On this teacher’s advice, the Dalai Lama had himself been propitiating this dangerous spirit – along with innumerable other esoteric rituals – as part of his daily four hours of meditation and spiritual exercise.
From Newsweek
A servant brought the wine, of which Father Christopher partook, feeling the necessity of propitiating the host.
From The Betrothed From the Italian of Alessandro Manzoni by Alessandro Manzoni
The former dropped a propitiating hand on Soane’s shoulder.
From The Moonlit Way by Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers
At this point, moreover, had ceased the pretended influence of Mohammad ibn Mohammad, Sultán of Tajúra, the utter futility of propitiating whom had long been sufficiently apparent.
From The Highlands of Ethiopia by William Cornwallis Harris
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.
