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propitiate

UK/ˌpɹəˈpɪʃieɪt/US/ˌpɹəˈpɪʃieɪt/
verbC2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechleans written

Other forms: propitiated, propitiating

To propitiate is to win back the goodwill of somebody offended. Propitiate the gods, propitiate his critics, an attempt to propitiate them.

It belongs to gods first and to angry people second, and there is always a gift or a concession involved. Propitious, meaning favourable, comes from the same root, since a propitiated god was a favourable one.

Definitions of propitiate

  1. 1verbpropitiateTo win back the goodwill of somebody offended.C2

    “The villagers offered gifts to propitiate the angry gods.”

propitiate is an appeasing.

Also accepted in games: conciliate

Where it comes from

Latin propitiare means to make favourable, from propitius, favourable.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *peth₂-

  2. Latin

    propitiāt-

  3. English, today

    propitiate

Built from

  • propitiō · Latin — make favourable
  • propitius · Latin — favourable, gracious

From Latin propitiāt-, the past participial stem of propitiō (“make favourable”), from propitius (“favourable, gracious”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

Practise this word

propitiate in the wild

  • Angered by this, Hiranyakashipu decided to gain a boon of invulnerability by performing tapas to propitiate Brahma.

    Hiranyakashipu

  • The people of Bhajji State visit the place to propitiate the Devta.

    Bhajji State

  • The sending of the maidens to propitiate the god during the Delphinia commemorates this event in the life of Theseus.

    Delphinia

  • Votive offerings are left at them to propitiate the spirits; more elaborate installations include an altar for this purpose.

    Spirit house

  • O Saints of God, you I pray with weeping full of grief, that ye would propitiate his mercies for me miserable.

    Penitence of Origen

1 / 2

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the propitius family

propitious

propitiate — used too rare to measure · point at the bar for the others