appease

verb

ap·pease | \ə-ˈpēz

appeased; appeasing

Definition of appease

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

Other Words from appease Synonyms & Antonyms Choose the Right Synonym More Example Sentences Learn More about appease

Keep scrolling for more

Other Words from appease

appeasable \-ˈpē-zə-bəl

\ adjective

appeasement \-ˈpēz-mənt

\ noun

appeaser noun

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

To appease some trading partners—like Argentina, Brazil, and South Korea—and avoid more retaliation, the Trump administration decided to enact import quotas in lieu of tariffs. — Diana Budds, Curbed, "How Trump’s tariffs are affecting the furniture industry," 7 Aug. 2018 And in the lamest of lame moves, the NFL tried to appease a president who is known for moving the ball, the goal posts, the field and the refs in order to win. — Stephen A. Crockett Jr., The Root, "Congratulations, NFL, You Played Yourself! Protest Fines Didn’t Appease Trump, Who Wants Players Who Don’t Stand for the Anthem Tossed Out of the Country," 24 May 2018 The Department of Justice has customarily walled off active investigations from congressional involvement, but Rosenstein (like Comey) has been trying to appease Republicans by giving them unusual access to his evidence. — Jonathan Chait, Daily Intelligencer, "Giuliani’s FBI ‘Stormtroopers’ Smear Is the Key to Trump’s Authoritarian Mind-set," 3 May 2018 Since the board’s decision, the doctor has not commented again, but that doesn’t appease Ojay Liburb, the son of Icilma Cornelius. — Angela Helm, The Root, "Dancing Dermatologist Has License Yanked by Georgia Medical Board," 9 June 2018 In other words, the Facebook CEO isn’t likely to appease professionally (if appropriately) outraged legislators. — Aaron Pressman, Fortune, "Data Sheet—Predicting Success for Mark Zuckerberg in Washington, D.C.," 9 Apr. 2018 Gilbert has gone above and beyond financial barriers to appease James, but the well could be running dry. — CBS News, "LeBron James arrives in L.A. hours before he becomes a free agent," 30 June 2018 The head tax negotiated by Mayor Jenny Durkan and passed unanimously by the council last month was lowered to an amount that Durkan hoped would appease Amazon. — Author: Vianna Davila, Benjamin Romano, Anchorage Daily News, "Businesses get a win on head tax, but solution to Seattle homelessness crisis still elusive," 12 June 2018 That also means appeasing the city regulators and residents alike who are concerned with scooters stacking up in specific locations and creating piles of unused scooters. — Johana Bhuiyan, Recode, "This is how Lime moves around and charges their dockless scooters in San Francisco," 20 May 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.