appeasement

ap·pease·ment | \ ə-ˈpēz-mənt

plural appeasements

Definition of appeasement

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 In much the same way that Neville Chamberlain and his policy of appeasement were partly responsible for World War II, Obama’s disastrous Iran deal led the Arab world to reevaluate its priorities. — Jonah Goldberg Tribune News Service (tns), Star Tribune, "Just give Trump his due on Mideast peace deals," 18 Sep. 2020 Chow's supporters—his fondness for horse racing (and the Order of the British Empire honorific tacked onto his name) smacked of elitism and the type of politics of appeasement that come with it. — Timothy Mclaughlin, Wired, "Hong Kong Is a Troubling Case Study in the Death of Democracy," 17 Sep. 2020 His task was made more difficult by the pacifist and progressive assumptions that fueled the culture of appeasement throughout the 1930s. — Joseph Loconte, National Review, "Churchill, the Blitz, and Moral Leadership," 9 Sep. 2020 The Munich Agreement, reached by Nazi Germany, Great Britain, France and Italy allowed Hitler's troops to annex Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland and is remembered today as a classic case of diplomatic appeasement. — Sam Dorman, Fox News, "National security adviser calls Iran nuke agreement 'worst diplomatic deal since the Munich appeasement'," 21 Aug. 2020 Chamberlain, who often carried a black umbrella, was known for his policy of appeasement toward Hitler. — Caroline Hallemann, Town & Country, "Who Was the Real Life Umbrella Man at the Kennedy Assassination?," 2 Aug. 2020 As a refugee from National Socialism, Kissinger may have overlearned the lessons of Neville Chamberlain's appeasement of Hitler in Munich 1938. — Damon Linker, TheWeek, "The vital mystery of how we think about the world," 22 May 2020 Eight months into the war, Neville Chamberlain—the architect of the appeasement policy toward Hitler—was forced to resign as prime minister. — Helen Lewis, The Atlantic, "Crises Are No Time for Political Unity," 20 May 2020 Who will enter an argument about appeasement with Kissinger, whose uncles, aunts and cousins died in the death camps, who fled Germany with his parents and brother as a teenager and returned in soldier’s gear to fight for its liberation in 1944? — John A. Farrell, New York Times, "How Do You Explain Henry Kissinger?," 28 Apr. 2020

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