RECONCILE

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does reconcile mean? 

• RECONCILE (verb)
  The verb RECONCILE has 4 senses:

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

2. bring into consonance or accord

3. come to terms

4. accept as inevitable

  Familiarity information: RECONCILE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• RECONCILE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they reconcile    ... he / she / it reconciles   
Past simple: reconciled   
Past participle: reconciled   
-ing form: reconciling   

Sense 1

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 "reconcile" is one way to...):

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

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

reconciliation (getting two things to correspond)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Bring into consonance or accord

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

harmonise; harmonize; reconcile

Context example:

harmonize one's goals with one's abilities

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

adjust; correct; set (alter or regulate so as to achieve accuracy or conform to a standard)

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

key (harmonize with or adjust to)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

reconciler (someone who tries to bring peace)

reconciliation (getting two things to correspond)

Sense 3

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 "reconcile" is one way to...):

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

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

appease; propitiate (make peace with)

make peace (end hostilities)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

reconciliation (the reestablishing of cordial relations)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Accept as inevitable

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

reconcile; resign; submit

Context example:

He resigned himself to his fate

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

accept (consider or hold as true)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody PP

 Context examples 

Well, said Emma, I suppose we shall gradually grow reconciled to the idea, and I wish them very happy.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

“At any rate, they are all reconciled to it now, I hope?” said I.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Settle your wig, Jo, and tell me if I shall telegraph to your mother, or do anything? asked Laurie, who never had been reconciled to the loss of his friend's one beauty.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I could not reconcile these books with the man from what I had seen of him, and I wondered if he could possibly read them.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Would I forgive him for the selfish idea, and prove my pardon by a reconciling kiss?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

She was too absorbed in striving to reconcile the stumbling, uncouth speech and its simplicity of thought with what she saw in his face.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Even the high pay cannot reconcile me to the discomforts of my situation.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I cannot be so easily reconciled to myself.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

I would reconcile him to life, but he repulses the idea.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Miss Crawford, however, with renewed animation, soon went on—I am conscious of being far better reconciled to a country residence than I had ever expected to be.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)