Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To placate or attempt to placate (a threatening nation, for example) by granting concessions, often at the expense of principle.
  • transitive verb To calm, soothe, or quiet (someone): synonym: pacify.
  • transitive verb To satisfy, relieve, or assuage.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To bring to a state of peace; pacify; quiet by allaying anger, indignation, strife, etc.
  • To allay; calm, as an excited state of feeling; remove, as a passion or violent emotion.
  • To assuage or soothe, as bodily pain; satisfy, as an appetite or desire: as, to appease the smart of a wound, or one's hunger.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To make quiet; to calm; to reduce to a state of peace; to still; to pacify; to dispel (anger or hatred)

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To make quiet; to calm; to reduce to a state of peace; to dispel (anger or hatred).
  • verb To come to terms with; to adapt to the demands of.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb cause to be more favorably inclined; gain the good will of
  • verb overcome or allay
  • verb make peace with

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English appesen, from Old French apesier : a-, to (from Latin ad-; see ad–) + pais, peace (from Latin pāx; see pag- in Indo-European roots).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English apesen, from Old French apeser ("to pacify, bring to peace"), from a ("to") + pais, modification of French paix ("peace"); see peace.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word appease.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.