conciliate
verb
William Taubman
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."
Examples of conciliate in a Sentence
Time, 9 Oct. 2025
America’s leadership in the Middle East has shaped the region in ways that have massively benefited Israel: deterring and coercing Iran, neutralizing the Islamic State and other terrorists, and conciliating moderate Arab states such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
—Daniel Byman, The Atlantic, 24 May 2025
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
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
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
Cite this Entry
“Conciliate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conciliate. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
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conciliate
verb
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