CONCILIATE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does conciliate mean? 

• CONCILIATE (verb)
  The verb CONCILIATE has 3 senses:

1. cause to be more favorably inclined; gain the good will of

2. come to terms

3. make (one thing) compatible with (another)

  Familiarity information: CONCILIATE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CONCILIATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they conciliate    ... he / she / it conciliates   
Past simple: conciliated   
Past participle: conciliated   
-ing form: conciliating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cause to be more favorably inclined; gain the good will of

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

appease; assuage; conciliate; gentle; gruntle; lenify; mollify; pacify; placate

Context example:

She managed to mollify the angry customer

Hypernyms (to "conciliate" is one way to...):

calm; calm down; lull; quiet; quieten; still; tranquilize; tranquillise; tranquillize (make calm or still)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The performance is likely to conciliate Sue

Derivation:

conciliation (the act of placating and overcoming distrust and animosity)

conciliation (the state of manifesting goodwill and cooperation after being reconciled)

conciliative (intended to placate)

conciliator (someone who tries to bring peace)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Come to terms

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

conciliate; make up; patch up; reconcile; settle

Context example:

After some discussion we finally made up

Hypernyms (to "conciliate" is one way to...):

agree; concord; concur; hold (be in accord; be in agreement)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "conciliate"):

appease; propitiate (make peace with)

make peace (end hostilities)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

conciliation (any of various forms of mediation whereby disputes may be settled short of arbitration)

conciliation (the state of manifesting goodwill and cooperation after being reconciled)

conciliative; conciliatory (intended to placate)

conciliatory (making or willing to make concessions)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Make (one thing) compatible with (another)

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

accommodate; conciliate; reconcile

Context example:

The scientists had to accommodate the new results with the existing theories

Hypernyms (to "conciliate" is one way to...):

harmonise; harmonize (bring (several things) into consonance or relate harmoniously)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something PP

 Context examples 

Also he saw one dog, that would neither conciliate nor obey, finally killed in the struggle for mastery.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Yet his manners are so conciliating and gentle that the sailors are all interested in him, although they have had very little communication with him.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Her air was not conciliating, nor was her manner of receiving them such as to make her visitors forget their inferior rank.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

"It is useless to attempt to conciliate you: I see I have made an eternal enemy of you."

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

This remark was not calculated to make Edward or Elinor more easy, nor to conciliate the good will of Lucy, who looked up at Marianne with no very benignant expression.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

I am sure they will like her extremely; and when she gets a little acquainted with them, her fears will completely wear off, for there really is nothing in the manners of either but what is highly conciliating.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Only be a loving child to me in my age, and bear with my whims and fancies; and you will do more for an old woman whose prime of life was not so happy or conciliating as it might have been, than ever that old woman did for you.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram received her very kindly; and Sir Thomas, seeing how much she needed encouragement, tried to be all that was conciliating: but he had to work against a most untoward gravity of deportment; and Lady Bertram, without taking half so much trouble, or speaking one word where he spoke ten, by the mere aid of a good-humoured smile, became immediately the less awful character of the two.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

I imagined that they would be disgusted, until, by my gentle demeanour and conciliating words, I should first win their favour and afterwards their love.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Elizabeth disdained the appearance of noticing this civil reflection, but its meaning did not escape, nor was it likely to conciliate her.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)