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

But Republicans have long faulted the move as evidence of appeasement and are eager for the return of Trump, who in his first term pulled out of the 2015 deal with Iran. —Brad Dress, The Hill, 20 Dec. 2024

British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s infamous appeasement of Adolf Hitler provides another case in point. —Keren Yarhi-Milo, Foreign Affairs, 24 Oct. 2023

Many rightsholders surround live coverage with docu titles, which are often engineered merely as promotional vehicles or appeasements to league partners. —Dade Hayes, Deadline, 12 Dec. 2024

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

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1