appeasement

noun

ap·​pease·​ment ə-ˈpēz-mənt 

plural appeasements

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

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

Now, four years later, trying again with a few tweaks of appeasement, Macron doesn’t seem very likely to escape a much different fate. —David A. Andelman, CNN, 11 Jan. 2023

Traditionally, appeasement has been difficult to manage at scale. —Jeff Fettes, Forbes, 10 Nov. 2022

If Zelensky had made the deal before the invasion, that would be appeasement. —Grayson Quay, The Week, 8 Mar. 2022

In an authoritarian regime, the balance between appeasement and repression is an imprecise science at the best of times. —Jiayang Fan, The New Yorker, 7 Dec. 2022

But Joel Rubin, a former deputy assistant Secretary of State for the Obama administration, argues that former President Donald Trump's policy of appeasement toward the Saudi's put Biden in a difficult position. —Fox News, 14 Oct. 2022

Germany’s Zeitenwende, or historical turning point—the abandonment of appeasement as the basis of Russia policy and a shift toward greater military spending—has received more attention. —Walter Russell Mead, WSJ, 28 Nov. 2022

Two years later, in a speech from Verdun, France, the former King called for appeasement. —Town & Country, 18 Nov. 2022

Complex appeasement practices create both customer and employee dissatisfaction. —Jeff Fettes, Forbes, 10 Nov. 2022

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Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1