conciliate
kuhn-SILL-ee-ayt
/kənˈsɪlieɪt/
To stop someone from being angry; to placate or win over.
Conciliate focuses on the emotional state of the parties, trying to restore goodwill.
The story behind the word. From the Latin 'concilium', meaning 'a meeting' or 'an assembly'. To conciliate was originally to bring people together into a single assembly or mind.
Word relationships
- placate: Placate often implies giving in to demands to stop anger, while conciliate implies building a bridge.
- estrange: To estrange is to drive people apart, the opposite of conciliating them.
Commonly confused with
- reconcile: Reconcile means to restore a relationship; conciliate is the act of making someone less hostile.
Word family
- conciliatory (adjective): Intended or likely to placate or pacify.
- conciliation (noun): The action of stopping someone from being angry.
Collocations
- conciliate an enemy
- conciliatory gesture
- effort to conciliate
Example sentences
- "The government made no attempt to conciliate the protesters, leading to further unrest." Political history
- "The manager tried to conciliate the angry client by offering a full refund and a personal apology." Business
Memory hook
Conciliate sounds like 'reconcile'. You are trying to make things 'silly' and happy again. Conciliate = Calm down.
When not to use
Avoid in purely technical or legal contexts where emotions are not the primary barrier.
Fun facts
- In labor law, a 'conciliation service' is often a formal body that steps in before a strike occurs.
Related words
Explore more words
conciliation, placate, mollify, propitiate, appease, reconcile
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