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

There is a dark problem on Harvard’s campus, and by prioritizing appeasement over accountability, institutional leaders have forfeited the school's claim to taxpayer support. —John Timmer, ArsTechnica, 14 May 2025

His use of the term appeasement echoed the criticism of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, who conceded Germany’s annexation of Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland in 1938 before World War II. —Bart Jansen, USA Today, 8 May 2025

The term appeasement refers to the 1930 efforts to appease Adolf Hitler’s move to annex land in Europe with the hope a war would not occur. —Lauren Irwin, The Hill, 7 May 2025

The world paid a steep price for that appeasement as Hitler marched through Czechoslovakia and the rest of Europe. —Tom Zirpoli, Baltimore Sun, 11 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for appeasement

• easement