appease

verb ap·pease \ ə-ˈpēz \

Updated on: 16 Apr 2018

Definition of appease

appeased; appeasing

1 : pacify, conciliate; especially : to make concessions to (someone, such as an aggressor or a critic) often at the sacrifice of principles

appeased the dictator by accepting his demands

Placaters, who try hard to appease others so as to keep the peace, fear getting hurt in some way.
—Mike Cote

2 : to cause to subside : allay

appeased my hunger

trying to appease her guilty conscience

3 : to bring to a state of peace or quiet : calm

appease a quarrel

—

appeasable

play \-ˈpē-zə-bəl\ adjective

—

appeasement

play \-ˈpēz-mənt\ noun

—

appeaser

noun

See appease defined for English-language learners

See appease defined for kids

Examples of appease in a Sentence

But I imagine he and his siblings, who profited handsomely from the sale, have mixed emotions. They may be sad they had to sell, yet relieved that they are no longer under pressure to appease Wall Street's demand for growth and profits. —James Laube, Wine Spectator, 31 Mar. 2005
The first is that, in affluent America, mothering has gone from an art to a cult, with devotees driving themselves to ever more baroque extremes to appease the goddess of perfect motherhood. —Judith Shulevitz, New York Times Book Review, 20 Feb. 2005
It was last summer, and Gingell, then Sun Microsystems's chief software engineer, had an excuse: His twin-engine Cessna had broken down, and he'd lost track of time while he gabbed on the phone with his mechanic. That wasn't likely to appease Sun's famously tart-tongued CEO, Scott McNealy, who was getting his introductory briefing on a vital new technology initiative that happened to be Gingell's brainchild. —Erick Schonfeld, Business 2.0, September 2002
The California legislature's solution to this seemingly intractable problem was a politically appealing package with features to appease both utility investors and ratepayers. —Benjamin A. Holden, Wall Street Journal, 19 Feb. 1997
They appeased the dictator by accepting his demands in an effort to avoid war.
His critics were not appeased by this last speech.
They made sacrifices to appease the gods.
We had no way to appease our hunger.

Recent Examples of appease from the Web

The Kennedy dynasty has its share of admirers and critics alike, and, to the film’s credit, director John Curran and his screenwriters do not appease either camp.

— alan zilberman, kansascity, "‘Chappaquiddick’ plays it fair," 5 Apr. 2018
Netanyahu's backtrack was largely seen in Israel as an attempt to appease his voter base and keep its support at a time of political uncertainty.

— NBC News, "Israel's Netanyahu changes his mind on migrant resettlement plan," 3 Apr. 2018
As seen from Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, the Obama White House disregarded their existential interests while appeasing their mortal enemy Iran and courting another foe, the Muslim Brotherhood.

— yaroslav trofimov, WSJ, "Saudis, U.A.E. Face Risk of Backlash as They Embrace Trump," 20 Mar. 2018
The 49ers’ offer was too good to pass up just to appease fans who don’t really have his best interest in mind.

— steven ruiz, For The Win, "Richard Sherman hits back at Seahawks fans who are mad he signed with the 49ers," 12 Mar. 2018
Those pushing a quick reauthorization hope that this bill, by resolving jurisdictional fights between the two committees and appeasing the most important leaders, will get through the House.

— marcy wheeler, New Republic, "Congress’s Absurd Quest to Curb the Surveillance State," 9 Jan. 2018
But none of those explanations have appeared to appease the Civil Service Commission.

— beau evans, NOLA.com, "'It's not good': Confidence in Sewerage & Water Board hiring wanes," 21 Mar. 2018
In September, Davies vented his concerns over allowing free movement of European citizens in the U.K. after Brexit, likening concessions by May to the appeasing politics of the British cabinet towards Nazi Germany before the World War II.

— luca casiraghi, Bloomberg.com, "Brexit Rift Among Tories Revealed in Leavers' WhatsApp Messages," 10 Mar. 2018
The funniest part of all this is that Trump slapped King Keebler down, when clearly this investigation was an attempt to appease the president.

— stephen a. crockett jr., The Root, "Trump Called Out Attorney General Jeff Sessions Because He Doesn’t Understand How This Works," 28 Feb. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'appease.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.