appeasement

noun

ap·​pease·​ment ə-ˈpēz-mənt 

plural appeasements

1

: the act or action of appeasing someone or something

… one tribe may go in for the appeasement of local ghosts …

—W. D. Howells

especially : a policy of appeasing an enemy or potential aggressor by making concessions

Although appeasement may work in individual cases, terrorist groups with global ambitions cannot be appeased by territorial concessions.

—Walter Laqueur

The Munich analogy—recalling the Allies' appeasement of Germany over its demands on Czechoslovakia in 1938—has been cited again and again, and this is understandable.

—Fredric Smoler

2

: the state of being satisfied

an experience from which he derived little appeasement

… we are relieved to read of Shaw … alleviating the tedium of a vegetarian diet with secret gorges on boiled sweets and cake; his sensuality found appeasement in sugar.

—Robertson Davies

Examples of appeasement in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

If your rival is evil, compromise—indeed, negotiation itself—becomes appeasement. —Christopher Layne, Foreign Affairs, 13 Oct. 2020

But with its final ape/human interaction, Kingdom settles on appeasement, and Caesar never stood for that. —Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 15 Aug. 2024

Another suggested renaming Greene’s office for Neville Chamberlain, the British prime minister who is widely denigrated for his appeasement of Hitler. —Megan Garber, The Atlantic, 23 Oct. 2024

Crypto insiders worry that Harris may be taking a similar tack: of appeasement giving way to apathy. —Andrew R. Chow, TIME, 8 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1