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
Example Sentences
But I imagine he and his siblings, who profited handsomely from the sale, have mixed emotions. They may be sad they had to sell, yet relieved that they are no longer under pressure to appease Wall Street's demand for growth and profits. James Laube, Wine Spectator, 31 Mar. 2005The first is that, in affluent America, mothering has gone from an art to a cult, with devotees driving themselves to ever more baroque extremes to appease the goddess of perfect motherhood. Judith Shulevitz, New York Times Book Review, 20 Feb. 2005It was last summer, and Gingell, then Sun Microsystems's chief software engineer, had an excuse: His twin-engine Cessna had broken down, and he'd lost track of time while he gabbed on the phone with his mechanic. That wasn't likely to appease Sun's famously tart-tongued CEO, Scott McNealy, who was getting his introductory briefing on a vital new technology initiative that happened to be Gingell's brainchild. Erick Schonfeld, Business 2.0, September 2002The California legislature's solution to this seemingly intractable problem was a politically appealing package with features to appease both utility investors and ratepayers. Benjamin A. Holden, Wall Street Journal, 19 Feb. 1997 They appeased the dictator by accepting his demands in an effort to avoid war. His critics were not appeased by this last speech. They made sacrifices to appease the gods. We had no way to appease our hunger. See More
Recent Examples on the WebIn the past, major movie studios such as Disney, Warner Bros., Sony Pictures, Paramount and Universal Pictures have drawn criticism for allegedly censoring their movies for Chinese audiences to appease the government in Beijing. Christi Carras, Los Angeles Times, 23 Aug. 2022 The girls possess an inevitable self-consciousness when standing in front of a ring light and making a TikTok, trying to appease the social-media gods. Jessie Zinn, The New Yorker, 17 Aug. 2022 In a delicate dance that seems designed to appease both the right and left, Macron has refused to vilify French imperialists, most notably Napoleon, but has recognized their wrongdoing. Saphora Smith, NBC News, 25 Dec. 2021 The bill also has some negatives from a climate perspective, like its new offshore oil leases, presumably added to appease Sen. Manchin, whose vote was crucial to the legislation’s passage. Adam Sobel, CNN, 12 Aug. 2022 In June, The Information reported that Meta would stop making Portals for consumers and start pushing them as business tech as part of a hardware strategy restructuring to appease investors. Scharon Harding, Ars Technica, 11 Aug. 2022 Provisions for new oil and gas leases are the obvious doozy, slotted in to appease Senator Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia).Wired, 10 Aug. 2022 Last year, Vos sought to appease those who wanted to decertify the 2020 presidential election results by hiring Gableman to lead a Republican election investigation, a probe that has cost $1 million. Daniel Bice, Journal Sentinel, 10 Aug. 2022 That said, the contentious recruitment appears to have been suspended with an investigation launched to appease Nigeria, an outcome that shows the unshaken power of the region’s largest economy within its strongest sphere of influence. Alexander Onukwue, Quartz, 8 Aug. 2022 See More
Word History
Etymology
Middle English appesen, from Anglo-French apeser, apaiser, from a- (from Latin ad-) + pais peace — more at peace