verb (used with object), ap·peased, ap·peas·ing.
- to bring to a state of peace, quiet, ease, calm, or contentment; pacify; soothe: to appease an angry king.
- to satisfy, allay, or relieve; assuage: The fruit appeased his hunger.
- to yield or concede to the belligerent demands of (a nation, group, person, etc.) in a conciliatory effort, sometimes at the expense of justice or other principles.
noun
- the policy of acceding to the demands of a potentially hostile nation in the hope of maintaining peace
- the act of appeasing
verb (tr)
- to calm, pacify, or soothe, esp by acceding to the demands of
- to satisfy or quell (an appetite or thirst, etc)
mid-15c., “pacification,” from Middle French apeisement, Old French apaisement “appeasement, calming,” noun of action from apaisier (see appease). First recorded 1919 in international political sense; not pejorative until failure of Chamberlain’s policy toward Germany in 1939 (Methods of appeasement was Chamberlain’s description of his policy).
c.1300 “to reconcile,” from Anglo-French apeser, Old French apaisier “to pacify, make peace, appease, be reconciled, placate” (12c.), from the phrase a paisier “bring to peace,” from a “to” (see ad-) + pais, from Latin pacem (nominative pax) “peace” (see peace). Related: Appeased; appeasing.
A political policy of conceding to aggression by a warlike nation.