appease

verb ap·pease \ ə-ˈpēz \

|Updated on: 24 Jun 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

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appeasable

play \-ˈpē-zə-bəl\ adjective

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appeasement

play \-ˈpēz-mənt\ noun

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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

By the time referee Danny Schiavane had waved his hands to signal the knockout, Rivera was already on the corner ropes, appeasing his fans.

— shawn mcfarland, courant.com, "Hartford's Richard Rivera Wins ABF Continental Americas Cruiserweight Belt At Fight Night At The Capital," 17 June 2018
Oh sure, the high rollers get their needs appeased.

— paul daugherty, Cincinnati.com, "Paul Daugherty: Upstairs People rewarded with UC's Fifth Third Arena renovations," 17 June 2018
Sources told NBC News last week that conservatives had suggested a new visa system for DACA participants that would lead to a path to citizenship, but the proposal didn’t sufficiently appease moderates.

— rebecca shabad and alex moe /, NBC News, "House GOP moderates, conservatives reach deal to vote on two immigration bills," 13 June 2018
In fact, policies based on appeasing federal laws tend to focus on symbolic compliance and function to avoid institutional liability rather than thwart would-be harassers.

— beth mole, Ars Technica, "Amid rampant sexual harassment in science, academies aren’t ejecting abusers," 12 June 2018
The intention, prosecutors have said, was to appease labor leaders and win contract concessions that favored FCA.

— jamie lareau, Detroit Free Press, "UAW-Chrysler training center sues to recoup stolen money," 8 June 2018
After the United States formally took control of Hawaii in 1898, appeasing Pele and accepting her force didn’t seem to be much of an official priority.

— simon romero, New York Times, "Madame Pele, Hawaii’s Goddess of Volcanoes, Awes Those Living in Lava’s Path," 21 May 2018
So Michael Saltzman did a rewrite to try and appease them.

— will harris, HWD, "Carol Burnett Wants to Be Left Alone (by Network Execs)," 4 May 2018
The move was intended to appease angry customers whose iPhones would otherwise suddenly turn off because of the aging batteries inside.

— jonathan vanian, Fortune, "Here's How Long It Takes to Upgrade Your Apple iPhone Battery," 8 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.