Definition of APPEASE

Choose the Right Synonym for appease

pacify, appease, placate, mollify, propitiate, conciliate mean to ease the anger or disturbance of. pacify suggests a soothing or calming. pacified by a sincere apology appease implies quieting insistent demands by making concessions. appease their territorial ambitions placate suggests changing resentment or bitterness to goodwill. a move to placate local opposition mollify implies soothing hurt feelings or rising anger. a speech that mollified the demonstrators propitiate implies averting anger or malevolence especially of a superior being. propitiated his parents by dressing up conciliate suggests ending an estrangement by persuasion, concession, or settling of differences. conciliating the belligerent nations

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 on the Web Officials also worry that the app could be used to spread Chinese propaganda and that the platform’s moderators could be censoring content to appease Beijing. — Wsj Noted., WSJ, "TikTok Could Be Bought by Microsoft Amid Ban Threat," 31 July 2020 Now, the Hong Kong government is crafting Web controls to appease the most prolific censor on the planet, the Chinese Communist Party. — Paul Mozur, BostonGlobe.com, "In Hong Kong, a proxy battle over Internet freedom begins," 7 July 2020 House Republican leadership, led by leader Kevin McCarthy, has already outlined a limited set of policies to combat climate change, in an effort to appease young voters tired of the party’s skepticism toward the problem. — Josh Siegel, Washington Examiner, "House GOP under pressure from allies to support planks of Democratic climate plan," 7 July 2020 In an attempt to appease patients, French regulators temporarily authorized off-label use in 2014, while awaiting the results of two clinical trials. — Ed Silverman, STAT, "A pill to fight alcoholism causes an uproar in France over a regulator’s view of a clinical trial," 25 June 2020 Democratic politicians—and some Republicans—hastened to appease the protesters. — Ayaan Hirsi Ali, WSJ, "America Doesn’t Need a New Revolution," 26 June 2020 The meeting house's new option to cater events off-site joins other establishments in the changes made to appease state guidelines. — Emma Dale, Detroit Free Press, "Meeting House Grand Ballroom to cater events off-site amid COVID-19 pandemic," 18 June 2020 The contortions necessary to appease Trump would qualify campaign staffers for starring roles in Cirque Du Soleil. — Walter Shapiro, The New Republic, "Trump’s Potemkin Reelection Campaign," 16 June 2020 Harris has avoided discussing whether Biden should pick a black woman to appease Democrats who want more minority candidates on the ballot. — Naomi Lim, Washington Examiner, "Kamala Harris overshadowed in her bid to be Joe Biden veep pick," 10 June 2020

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.