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pacify Definition

paci·fy (pas′ə fī′)

transitive verb -·fied′, -·fy′·ing

  1. to make peaceful or calm; appease; tranquilize
    1. to establish or secure peace in (a nation, etc.)
    2. ☆ to seek to neutralize or win over (people in occupied areas)

Etymology: ME pacifien < OFr pacefier < L pacificare < pax (gen. pacis), peace + facere, to make, do

pacify Related Forms
pac′i·fi′·able adjective
pacify Synonyms

pacify

v.

  1. To mollify

    conciliate, appease, placate, mollify, propitiate, assuage, soothe, smooth over, calm, tranquilize, subdue, pour oil on troubled waters; see also quiet 1.

  2. To quiet

    soothe, silence, lull; see quiet 2.

pacify implies the making quiet, calm, and peaceful of someone or something that has become agitated, angry, or disorderly to pacify a crying child; appease suggests a pacifying by gratifying or giving in to the demands of to appease one's hunger; mollify suggests a soothing of wounded feelings or an allaying of indignation his compliments failed to mollify her; placate implies the changing of a hostile or angry attitude to a friendly or favorable one to placate an offended colleague; propitiate implies an allaying or forestalling of hostile feeling by winning the good will of sacrifices made to propitiate a deity; conciliate implies the use of arbitration, concession, persuasion, etc. in an attempt to win over

pacify Usage Examples

Object

  • crowd: Somehow, the Kaptain managed to pacify the crowd with a recitation of Nervous Norvus's ' Wild Dogs Of Kentucky ' .
  • area: If you plan properly you can actually help pacify areas, by not concentrating the wrong type of businesses together and communities together.
  • conscience: It pacifies a troubled conscience and it removes the fear of death.
  • people: No sooner had the Imam received the news of the event than he came to pacify the people.
  • country: There was a dramatic failure to rein in the warlords, disarm and pacify the country.
  • child: Never use a flame from matches, lighters or candles to pacify a child, or attract a child's attention.

Modifying Another Word

  • easily: He who is easily provoked and is easily pacified, he loses more than he gains.
  • not: If the mind is not pacified, how much more will I not generate the Great Mind?
  • also: They become upset very easily, but they are also pacified very easily.
  • only: If stewed or cooked until they are soft, they are not only pacifying to Apana Vata, but also to Pitta dosha.
  • supposedly: Beginning in 1979, he persuaded a number of American prisons to paint their cells a camp, but supposedly pacifying shade.
  • sufficiently: By Christmas 1949, the area had been sufficiently pacified for the police to relieve military forces.