reconcile

[ rek-uhn-sahyl ]
See synonyms for: reconcilereconciledreconciling on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object),rec·on·ciled, rec·on·cil·ing.
  1. to cause (a person) to accept or be resigned to something not desired: He was reconciled to his fate.

  2. to win over to friendliness; cause to become amicable: to reconcile hostile persons.

  1. to compose or settle (a quarrel, dispute, etc.).

  2. to bring into agreement or harmony; make compatible or consistent: to reconcile differing statements;to reconcile accounts.

  3. to reconsecrate (a desecrated church, cemetery, etc.).

  4. to restore (an excommunicate or penitent) to communion in a church.

verb (used without object),rec·on·ciled, rec·on·cil·ing.
  1. to become reconciled.

Origin of reconcile

1
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)

Other words for reconcile

Opposites for reconcile

Other words from reconcile

  • rec·on·cile·ment, noun
  • rec·on·cil·er, noun
  • rec·on·cil·ing·ly, adverb
  • pre·rec·on·cile, verb (used with object), pre·rec·on·ciled, pre·rec·on·cil·ing.
  • pre·rec·on·cile·ment, noun
  • qua·si-rec·on·ciled, adjective
  • un·rec·on·ciled, adjective
  • un·rec·on·cil·ing, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use reconcile in a sentence

  • If I may say so, it is the heart alone which reconciles things so opposed to one another, and allows incompatibilities.

  • Time, which gradually reconciles us to all things, produced the same effect on her as on others.

  • If a quarrel arises between two of them, they go to him; if two friends fall out, it is he who reconciles them.

    Cuore (Heart) | Edmondo De Amicis
  • The beautiful reconciles the contrast of different natures in its simplest and purest expression.

    The Aesthetical Essays | Friedrich Schiller
  • Nature reconciles man with himself; art divides and disunites him; the ideal brings him back to unity.

    The Aesthetical Essays | Friedrich Schiller

British Dictionary definitions for reconcile

reconcile

/ (ˈrɛkənˌsaɪl) /


verb(tr)
  1. (often passive usually foll by to) to make (oneself or another) no longer opposed; cause to acquiesce in something unpleasant: she reconciled herself to poverty

  2. to become friendly with (someone) after estrangement or to re-establish friendly relations between (two or more people)

  1. to settle (a quarrel or difference)

  2. to make (two apparently conflicting things) compatible or consistent with each other

  3. to reconsecrate (a desecrated church, etc)

Origin of reconcile

1
C14: from Latin reconciliāre to bring together again, from re- + conciliāre to make friendly, conciliate

Derived forms of reconcile

  • reconcilement, noun
  • reconciler, noun
  • reconciliation (ˌrɛkənˌsɪlɪˈeɪʃən), noun
  • reconciliatory (ˌrɛkənˈsɪlɪətərɪ, -trɪ), adjective

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