appeasement

noun

ap·​pease·​ment ə-ˈpēz-mənt 

plural appeasements

1

: the act or action of appeasing someone or something

… one tribe may go in for the appeasement of local ghosts …

—W. D. Howells

especially : a policy of appeasing an enemy or potential aggressor by making concessions

Although appeasement may work in individual cases, terrorist groups with global ambitions cannot be appeased by territorial concessions.

—Walter Laqueur

The Munich analogy—recalling the Allies' appeasement of Germany over its demands on Czechoslovakia in 1938—has been cited again and again, and this is understandable.

—Fredric Smoler

2

: the state of being satisfied

an experience from which he derived little appeasement

… we are relieved to read of Shaw … alleviating the tedium of a vegetarian diet with secret gorges on boiled sweets and cake; his sensuality found appeasement in sugar.

—Robertson Davies

Examples of appeasement in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

During the premiere, Parker and Stone celebrated the deal by allocating wide chunks of the episode to criticizing Paramount for those appeasements. —Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 7 Aug. 2025

This should prove to Mayor Adams and other state and city leaders that no amount of appeasement is going forestall the the targeting from Trump. —New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 28 July 2025

Decades of appeasement of the Iranian regime have unequivocally failed. —Tom Ridge, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 July 2025

The list of spirits is long, each with their own physical attributes, epic folklore and methods of appeasement. —Vanessa Anderson, Los Angeles Times, 19 June 2025

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for appeasement

• easement