appease

present singular third person appeases · participle present appeasing · participle past appeased · past appeased

1. To make quiet; to calm; to reduce (something) to a state of peace; to dispel (anger, hatred, etc.).

   to appease the tumult of the ocean

   1 more example

   'First, a little refreshment to reward my exertions. You may as well be quiet. It is not the first time, or the second, that your veins have appeased my thirst!'

   1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, Westminster [London]: Archibald Constable and Company, […], →OCLC

   Synonyms: calm, pacify, quell, quiet, still, lull

2. To make conciliatory offerings or concessions to (someone) in an attempt to dispel their anger, aggression, etc.; to adapt to the demands of; to come to terms with.

   They appeased the angry gods with burnt offerings.

   2 more examples

   Former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott has suggested climate change is “probably doing good” in a speech in London in which he likened policies to combat it to “primitive people once killing goats to appease the volcano gods” .

   2017 October 9, Karl Mathiesen, quoting Tony Abbott, “Tony Abbott says climate change is 'probably doing good'”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

   It's been slowly hacked back, amid fears of escalating costs, by politicians who have also increased those costs by adding expensive structures such as tunnels to appease opponents.

   2024 October 30, Philip Haigh, “Poor planning and lack of clarity damages rail projects”, in RAIL, number 1021, page 50

   Synonyms: mollify, placate, propitiate