Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To overcome the distrust or animosity of; appease.
- v. To regain or try to regain (friendship or goodwill) by pleasant behavior.
- v. To make or attempt to make compatible; reconcile.
- v. To gain or try to gain someone's friendship or goodwill. See Synonyms at pacify.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To overcome the distrust or hostility of, by soothing and pacifying means; induce friendly and kindly feelings in; pacify; placate; soothe; win over.
- To induce, draw, or secure by something adapted to attract regard or favor; win; gain; engage.
- Synonyms To win over, propitiate, appease. See reconcile.
Wiktionary
- v. Make calm and content; placate.
- v. Mediate in a dispute.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To win ower; to gain from a state of hostility; to gain the good will or favor of; to make friendly; to mollify; to propitiate; to appease.
WordNet 3.0
- v. come to terms
- v. cause to be more favorably inclined; gain the good will of
- v. make (one thing) compatible with (another)
Etymologies
- Latin conciliāre, conciliāt-, from concilium, meeting; see kelə-2 in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“He has deliberately said, that, if we cannot "conciliate" the Rebels, and "persuade" them to come back into the Union, we should allow them to depart in peace.”
“The establishment of these reforms, the petitioners of the Regulation concluded, would "conciliate" their minds to "every just measure of government, and would make the laws what the Constitution ever designed they should be, their protection and not their bane.”
Pioneers of the Old Southwest: a chronicle of the dark and bloody ground
“_patani [vs] a_ would be the verbal root for "conciliate"; _mpatana [vs] i_ is”
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 3 "Banks" to "Bassoon"
“conciliate" the South, and that that section could be induced to "come back" into the Union, provided nothing should be done to hurt its feelings or injure its interests!”
“And the leaders would sit in Assemblies and Houses and Senates and they would discuss, conciliate, find the center and thus exert sensible leadership.”
The Huffington Post: Peter Samuelson: Democracy With No Center Is a Zero
“This alone might not be cause enough for blacks en masse to repeatedly give their firm backing to the Democrats, especially when the Democrats compromise, conciliate, and flat out fumble the ball when it comes to caving to the GOP in fighting for increased funding and initiatives that help the urban poor.”
The Huffington Post: Earl Ofari Hutchinson: The GOP's Phony "Plantationism" Charge Against Democrats
“Instead of antagonizing the unions, which had been their previous policy, the socialists proceeded to conciliate the unions.”
“Gigot: You wrote this week that the engagement of the United States, not just in this administration but across other administrations, actually is "poisonous"--that was your word--to Khamenei, because he finds that attempt for the U.S. to conciliate a threat to Islamic values, and it may undermine his regime.”
“The mantra from the media is move right, conciliate, bridge build.”
The Huffington Post: Laura Flanders: The F Word: Lessons from Elizabeth Warren
“Israel must maintain its strength in the face of all enemies that rise up against it, but at the same time it must stretch out its hand in peace to all those who are willing to conciliate with it.”
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