placating 1 of 2

adjective

as in appeasing
tending to lessen or avoid conflict or hostility a placating comment that seemed to calm everyone down a bit

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placating

2 of 2

verb

present participle of placate
as in comforting
to lessen the anger or agitation of attempted to placate the screaming child by offering him a cookie

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of placating
Verb
The note is there when Sugar gets back, placating his suspicions (for now) and deflating his ego. — Andy Andersen, Vulture, 10 July 2026 Putin has struggled to manage fighting Kyiv on the one hand and placating domestic constituencies on the other. — Anna Nemtsova, Time, 23 May 2026 In your opinion, should the shop have handled this differently—perhaps compensating or at least placating me? — Hartford Courant, 25 Apr. 2026 If Paul’s creed is essentially Roman, then Christianity looks, from the outset, like a religion trained to live with empire, its compass always set toward placating power. — Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 13 Apr. 2026 But there’s no guarantee her successor will have any better success at placating the president. — Eric Tucker, Chicago Tribune, 4 Apr. 2026 Without these questions, our decisions become about placating requests. — Amy Cappellanti-Wolf, Forbes.com, 12 Mar. 2026 The story’s correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi accused CBS News management of placating the White House, turning the decision into a public relations fiasco for the network. — Los Angeles Times, 5 Mar. 2026 The majority of the more than 200 speakers at the hearings, however, criticized the draft plan, often with passionate testimony, arguing that the state was simply placating water users and failing to demand the deeper water cutbacks necessary for restoring the delta and the upstream rivers. — Kurtis Alexander, San Francisco Chronicle, 4 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for placating
  1. conciliatory
  2. appeasing
  3. soothing
  4. comforting
  5. benevolent
  6. pacific
  7. peaceful
  8. calming
Adjective
  • Trump himself seemed to strike a more conciliatory tone when returning from the summit.
    — Tiago Ventura, Time, 9 July 2026
  • Trump reverses on housing bill Republican senators were eager for a conciliatory meeting with the president after escalating tensions in recent weeks.
    — Mary Clare Jalonick, Los Angeles Times, 25 June 2026
Definition of conciliatory
Verb
  • But for most Republican members of Congress, appeasing Trump remains key to primary and electoral success.
    — SoRelle Wyckoff Gaynor, The Conversation, 17 July 2026
  • There’s been potential discrepancies and a few ballots the machines have declined, but the board has unanimously voted to just make duplicates of those ballots with the same result, appeasing the tabulators.
    — Angela George, Sioux Falls Argus Leader, 8 July 2026
Definition of appeasing
Adjective
  • Anyone who has watched the Sopranos knows there are few sights more soothing than watching Carmela Soprano lather her hands up to her elbows in lotion.
    — Caroline Reilly, Forbes.com, 22 July 2026
  • If the baby continues crying after the bassinet reaches its highest soothing level, parents receive an alert through the mobile app.
    — Adam Van Brimmer, AJC.com, 20 July 2026
Definition of soothing
Adjective
  • For the industry, that’s probably not the most comforting insight.
    — Dana Harris-Bridson, IndieWire, 22 July 2026
  • The comforting whistle of air sweeping in and out of my velvet horse nostrils lulls me right to sleep.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 20 July 2026
Definition of comforting
Adjective
  • Dorothea centers on a Sacramento woman (Davis) who ran a boarding house for the less fortunate in the 1980s, but her seemingly benevolent actions belied her sinister motives.
    — Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 7 July 2026
  • That would be intolerable in any other setting – not because every voter or marcher is admirable, but because constitutional rights are not based on a government employee’s benevolent opinion.
    — George A. Mocsary, The Conversation, 7 July 2026
Definition of benevolent
Adjective
  • Olivier tried successfully to get the reader to understand how a gentle, pacific young man could come to kill more than a thousand people, and so capturing the tone and empathetic portrayal not only of Simo Häyhä and his colleagues but also of the often-bewildered Russian soldiers was essential.
    — Erik Pedersen, Oc Register, 30 Jan. 2026
  • Courtesy: Apple Apple on Tuesday sent invites to the media and analysts for a launch event at its campus on September 9 at 10 A.M pacific time.
    — Kif Leswing, CNBC, 26 Aug. 2025
Definition of pacific
Adjective
  • Located in the small fishing village of Salema, with a quiet beach just one minute from the front door, this is a peaceful and authentic Algarve stay—a world away from the busy resorts along the region’s east coast.
    — Katie Silcox, Vogue, 24 July 2026
  • Iran has long insisted its program is peaceful, and it isn’t believed by the IAEA or the West to have had an active military nuclear program since 2003.
    — Jon Gambrell, Fortune, 24 July 2026
Definition of peaceful
Adjective
  • Besides providing access to a range of suburban adopters with big backyards, the ranch will offer a calming and spacious environment, especially for dogs more than 40 pounds, according to PAWS.
    — Mick Zawislak, Chicago Tribune, 17 July 2026
  • Featuring top notes of orange, bergamot, and lemon mixed with honeyed florals and the essence of musk, cedarwood, and sandalwood, each item leaves behind a clean, calming, slightly herbaceous scent.
    — Michele Laufik, Martha Stewart, 13 July 2026
Definition of calming

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placating
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Cite this Entry

“Placating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/placating. Accessed 25 Jul. 2026.

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