appeasement
uh-PEEZ-munt
/əˈpiːzmənt/
The policy of giving concessions to an aggressive power in order to avoid military conflict.
In modern foreign policy, appeasement carries a heavily negative connotation, implying cowardice that ultimately emboldens aggressors rather than pacifying them.
The story behind the word. Traces from Anglo-French 'apaisser', rooted in Latin 'ad-' (to) and 'pax' (peace), literally meaning 'to bring to peace'. For centuries it was a neutral term meaning pacification. However, after the 1938 Munich Agreement where Britain and France conceded the Sudetenland to Nazi Germany, 'appeasement' permanently became associated with dangerous political weakness.
Word relationships
- concession: A concession is giving up a point in trade or negotiation, while appeasement is a broader strategy of surrendering to aggression to avert war.
- pacification: Pacification implies bringing peace through control or calm, whereas appeasement yields to threat out of fear.
- defiance: Defiance is open resistance to aggression, opposite to appeasement.
- resistance: Resistance actively opposes demands rather than submitting to them.
Commonly confused with
- diplomacy: Diplomacy is balanced negotiation between equals; appeasement is surrendering to an aggressor's demands to prevent war.
Word family
- appease (verb): To pacify or placate someone by acceding to their demands.
- appeaser (noun): A person or leader who advocates or practices appeasement.
Collocations
- policy of appeasement
- appeasement strategy
- accused of appeasement
- futility of appeasement
Idioms & expressions
- feeding the crocodile hoping it eats you last
Example sentences
- "Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasement at Munich failed to halt territorial expansion and only delayed the conflict." World War II History
- "Critics argued that granting territorial concessions to the invader was a dangerous act of appeasement." Foreign Policy Debates
Memory hook
APPEASEMENT tries to KEEP THE PEACE by giving the bully your lunch money. Yielding to keep peace.
When not to use
Do not use for mutually beneficial negotiations or equal compromises; appeasement specifically means surrendering to demands out of fear of war.
Fun facts
- Winston Churchill famously described an appeaser as 'one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last'.
Related words
Explore more words
appease, placate, concession, mollify, capitulate, compromise
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