Definition

1. Verb:
   • To bring peace, quiet, or calm to a situation or person; to pacify: The core meaning involves calming someone who is angry or upset, or settling a conflict.
   • To satisfy, relieve, or fulfill (a demand, desire, or feeling): This meaning focuses on meeting a need or requirement, often to prevent trouble.
   • To yield or concede to demands, sometimes excessively, in order to avoid conflict: This usage often carries a negative connotation of making unprincipled concessions.

Usage and Examples

• To calm an angry person or group:

  • The manager tried to appease the frustrated customers by offering refunds.
  • Nothing he said could appease her fury after the betrayal.

• To satisfy a need or desire:

  • He ate a snack to appease his hunger until dinner.
  • The policy was designed to appease public demand for stricter regulations.

• To make political concessions to avoid conflict (often negative):

  • Historians argue that the attempt to appease the aggressive regime only delayed the inevitable war.
  • The government was accused of appeasing the rebels instead of upholding the law.

Advanced Usage and Nuance

• The term is often used in historical and political contexts to describe the failed policy of making concessions to Adolf Hitler prior to World War II, giving the word a strong negative connotation in such discussions.
• "Appeasement" (noun): The action or policy of appeasing.
  • The prime minister was criticized for his policy of appeasement.

Variants and Related Words

• Appeasement (n): The act of appeasing.
• Appeaser (n): A person who appeases, especially in a political context.
  • He was labeled an appeaser for his conciliatory stance.

Synonyms

• Pacify: To bring peace to; to calm.
• Mollify: To soothe the anger or anxiety of someone.
• Placate: To make someone less angry or hostile.
• Conciliate: To stop someone from being angry or discontented.
• Propitiate: To win or regain the favor of (a god, spirit, or person) by doing something that pleases them (more formal/religious).

Antonyms

• Provoke: To stimulate or incite (someone) to feel or do something, especially anger or violence.
• Antagonize: To cause someone to become hostile.
• Aggravate: To make a problem, injury, or offense worse or more serious.

Idioms and Common Phrases

• Policy of appeasement: A diplomatic strategy of making political or material concessions to an aggressive power to avoid conflict. This phrase is heavily associated with the pre-WWII era.
  • The policy of appeasement in the 1930s is now seen as a grave mistake.

Verb

1. make peace with
2. overcome or allay
   • quell my hunger
3. cause to be more favorably inclined; gain the good will of
   • She managed to mollify the angry customer