conciliate

verb

con·​cil·​i·​ate kən-ˈsi-lē-ˌāt 

conciliated; conciliating

transitive verb

1

: appease

… urgently counseled conciliating the peasants …

—William Taubman

2

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

3

: 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."

Synonyms

• accommodate
• attune
• conform
• coordinate
• harmonize
• key
• reconcile

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

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

This hardly seems sustainable, for Peru, very weak militarily, had every interest in preventing a war between Chile and Bolivia, even apart from the stipulations of Article VIII of the treaty which bound her to seek to conciliate the belligerents. —Edwin M. Borchard, Foreign Affairs, 7 Oct. 2011

The hope for this person is that officials from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) can mediate and conciliate this epic fight. —Kim Masters, The Hollywood Reporter, 18 July 2023

Much as former President Barack Obama once courted congressional Republicans, Tromp sought to conciliate the conservative legislators. —Daniel Golden, ProPublica, 4 July 2022

Biden’s team has absorbed, even invited, criticism from authoritarians whom Trump used to conciliate. —Joel Gehrke, Washington Examiner, 25 Mar. 2021

Refusing either to conciliate or coerce Southern states rushing headlong into secession, Lincoln maintained... —Harold Holzer, WSJ, 15 May 2020

Rather than jousting with citizen groups at zoning-board meetings, Mr. Traurig tried to conciliate them in advance. —James R. Hagerty, WSJ, 27 July 2018

Word History

Etymology

Latin conciliatus, past participle of conciliare to assemble, unite, win over, from concilium assembly, council — more at council

First Known Use

1545, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 2

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Kids Definition

conciliate

verb

con·​cil·​i·​ate kən-ˈsil-ē-ˌāt 

conciliated; conciliating

1

: to bring into agreement : reconcile

2

: to gain the goodwill or favor of

conciliate the opposition

conciliation

-ˌsil-ē-ˈā-shən 

noun

conciliator

-ˈsil-ē-ˌāt-ər 

noun

conciliatory

-ˈsil-yə-ˌtōr-ē 

-ˈsil-ē-ə-

-ˌtȯr-

adjective