Word of the Day

: August 3, 2018

pacify

verb PASS-uh-fye

What It Means

1 a : to allay the anger or agitation of : soothe

b : appease, propitiate

2 a : to restore to a tranquil state : settle

b : to reduce to a submissive state : subdue

pacify in Context

"To check on the health of a colony of bees it is usually necessary to open the hive, a procedure which involves using smoke to pacify the bees." — The Economist, 31 Mar. 2018

"In the areas that were hardest for the army to pacify, former residents and monitoring groups report a rising tide of arrests." — Louisa Loveluck, The Washington Post, 27 May 2018

Did You Know?

A parent who wants to win a little peace and quiet might give a fussy baby a pacifier. An employer seeking to avoid worker discontent might pay employees well. These actions may seem unrelated, but etymologically speaking, they have a lot in common. Both pacifier and pay are ultimately derived from pax, the Latin word for "peace." As you may have guessed, pax is also the source of our word peace. Pacify comes to us through Middle English pacifien, from the Latin verb pacificare, which derives from pax.