Word of the Day Archive
Monday February 10, 2003
placate \PLAY-kayt; PLAK-ayt\ , transitive verb:
To appease; to pacify, especially by making concessions.
The apologetic owner told us that the lunch was on the house, which barely placated my friend.
-- George Lang, Nobody Knows the Truffles I've Seen
In order to placate the newsmen who were threatening to leave, her husband, John Biddulph Martin, the wealthy head of a family-owned bank in London, ordered the waiters to serve whiskey and ham sandwiches.
-- Barbara Goldsmith, Other Powers
I envision the challenge that faces us in education as a two-headed dragon demanding daily human sacrifice to keep it placated and to prevent it from devouring the city.
-- Roger Shattuck, Candor and Perversion
Placate derives from the past participle of Latin placare, "to calm, to placate."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for placate
