conciliate

verb

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con·cil·i·ate | \ kən-ˈsi-lē-ˌāt

conciliated; conciliating

Definition of conciliate

transitive verb

1 : appease … urgently counseled conciliating the peasants …— William Taubman

2 : to gain (something, such as goodwill) by pleasing acts

3 : to make compatible : reconcile It is hard to conciliate the views of labor and management on this point.

intransitive verb

: to become friendly or agreeable

Other Words from conciliate Synonyms & Antonyms Choose the Right Synonym Did you know? More Example Sentences Learn More About conciliate

Other Words from conciliate

conciliation \ kən-ˌsi-lē-ˈā-shən

\ noun

conciliative \ kən-ˈsi-lē-ˌā-tiv

\ adjective

conciliator \ kən-ˈsi-lē-ˌā-tər

\ noun

Choose the Right Synonym for conciliate

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

Did you know?

A council is "an assembly or meeting for consultation, advice, or discussion," and it is often the task of a council to find compatibility in opposing views. It seems fitting, therefore, that the words council and conciliate both derive from the Latin word concilium, which means "assembly" or "council." Conciliate comes to us from the Latin conciliatus, the past participle of the verb conciliare (meaning "to assemble, unite, win over"), which in turn is from concilium. Council, on the other hand, derives from the Anglo-French cunseil or cuncile, from concilium. Other concilium descendants in English include conciliar ("of, relating to, or issued by a council") and the rare conciliabule ("a clandestine meeting especially of conspirators or rebels").

Examples of conciliate in a Sentence

The company's attempts to conciliate the strikers have failed. it will be hard to conciliate the views of labor and management regarding health benefits

Recent Examples on the Web Biden’s team has absorbed, even invited, criticism from authoritarians whom Trump used to conciliate. — Joel Gehrke, Washington Examiner, 25 Mar. 2021 Refusing either to conciliate or coerce Southern states rushing headlong into secession, Lincoln maintained... — Harold Holzer, WSJ, 15 May 2020 Rather than jousting with citizen groups at zoning-board meetings, Mr. Traurig tried to conciliate them in advance. — James R. Hagerty, WSJ, 27 July 2018 Trump’s determination to conciliate Putin can’t be dismissed as casual trolling or some idle attraction to a friendly face. — Jonathan Chait, Daily Intelligencer, 8 July 2018 Bickering over cabin choices and roommates until the older children brought in the authorities, in the form of parents, to conciliate. — Oddur Thorisson, Condé Nast Traveler, 21 June 2018 Attorney General Jeff Sessions has proclaimed the end of Obama-era reforms which conciliated between civil-rights activists and police to yield a wave of law-enforcement reforms. — Jonathan Chait, Daily Intelligencer, 24 May 2018 There are no complexities, no ambiguities, no conflicting views to consider or conciliate. — Holman W. Jenkins, WSJ, 8 May 2018 On the left, many liberals still wanted to conciliate rather than to confront our wartime ally Stalin. — Walter Russell Mead, WSJ, 21 July 2017 See More

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