conciliate

English edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from Latin conciliātus, perfect passive participle of conciliō (“I unite”), from concilium (“council, meeting”).

Pronunciation edit

IPA^(key): /ˌkənˈsɪlieɪt/
Audio (Southern England) (file)

Verb edit

conciliate (third-person singular simple present conciliates, present participle conciliating, simple past and past participle conciliated)

(transitive, obsolete) To acquire, to procure.
- 1790, Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments; […] In Two Volumes, 6th edition, volume II, London: […] A[ndrew] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell […]; Edinburgh: W[illiam] Creech, and J. Bell & Co., →OCLC, part VII, section IV (Of the Manner in which Different Authors have Treated of the Practical Rules of Morality), page 387:
  Frankneſs and openneſs conciliate confidence. We truſt the man who ſeems willing to truſt us.
(transitive, now rare) To reconcile (discordant theories, demands etc.); to make compatible, bring together.
- 1792, Charlotte Smith, Desmond, Broadview, published 2001, page 324:
  It must surely then happen, to a much greater degree, in a great nation, whose government is suddenly dissolved by the resolution of the people; and which, in taking a new form, has so many jarring interests to conciliate […] .
(transitive) To make calm and content, or regain the goodwill of; to placate.
- 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
  `Surely, my father,' I answered courteously, feeling certain that I should do well to conciliate this ancient Mammon of Unrighteousness.
(intransitive) To mediate in a dispute.