Word of the Day

: May 3, 2021

conciliatory

adjective kun-SILL-yuh-tor-ee

What It Means

: tending to win over from a state of hostility or distrust : intended to gain the goodwill or favor of someone

conciliatory in Context

As the irate customer yelled, the manager adopted a soothing, conciliatory tone and promised that the situation would be remedied.

"Then you have the situations in Green Bay and Seattle where veterans with Super Bowl wins and Hall of Fame resumes have expressed their feelings about their teams' direction. Green Bay management has been conciliatory towards Aaron Rodgers while Seattle has been rather truculent towards Russell Wilson." — Jeff Harvey, The Princeton (West Virginia) Times, 19 Feb. 2021

Did You Know?

If you are conciliatory towards someone, you're trying to win that person over to your side. The verb conciliate was borrowed into English in the mid-16th century and descends from the Latin verb conciliare, meaning "to assemble, unite, or win over." Conciliare, in turn, comes from Latin concilium, meaning "assembly" or "council." Conciliatory, which appeared in English a bit later in the 16th century, also traces back to conciliare. Another word that has conciliare as a root is reconcile, the earliest meaning of which is "to restore to friendship or harmony."