conciliate

verb

con·cil·i·ate kən-ˈsi-lē-ˌāt

conciliated; conciliating

Synonyms of conciliate

transitive verb

: appease

… urgently counseled conciliating the peasants …—William Taubman

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

: 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

conciliation

kən-ˌsi-lē-ˈā-shən

noun

conciliative

kən-ˈsi-lē-ˌā-tiv

adjective

conciliator

kən-ˈsi-lē-ˌā-tər

noun

Did you know?

Now here’s a people pleaser. The immediate source of conciliate is a form of the Latin verb conciliare, meaning "to assemble, unite, win over," and when conciliate was first used in the 16th century, the idea of winning over was key; it was used to mean "to gain something, such as goodwill or favor, by pleasing acts." Today, conciliate is mostly used in contexts where appease or reconcile is a more common choice, as in "a refusal to conciliate the dictator," and "efforts to conciliate the views of those on opposing sides." Like the word council, conciliate ultimately traces back to the Latin word concilium, meaning "assembly, council."

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

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

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.

Yes, but: With so many crypto leaders avowedly on Team Trump and the wind at her back, conciliating crypto sounds chancy. —Brady Dale, Axios, 13 Aug. 2024 Brazil and others have been trying to secure talks between the two sides, political rivals that have not conciliated in decades. —Reuters, NBC News, 13 Aug. 2024