Synonyms for pacify

31 synonyms
8 antonyms
2 meanings

verb

Most common

appease mollify assuage placate allay mitigate

Synonyms by meaning

Verb

1. Appease — to mollify, placate or soothe (someone or something)

appease, mollify, assuage, placate, soothe, calm, quell, conciliate, propitiate, gentle formal, satisfy, lull, calm down, still, soften, lay, ease, quiet, hush, cool off, compose, moderate

2. Allay — to bring peace to (a place or situation), by ending (or suppressing) war, fighting, violence, anger or…

allay, mitigate, abate, repacify, peacify, alleviate, locarnize rare, locarnise UK

Other

pacificate dated

Antonyms

provoke, agitate, enrage

All antonyms of pacify →

Definitions

v. 1
To bring peace to (a place or situation), by ending (or suppressing) war, fighting, violence, anger or agitation.
Near-synonyms: peacify, repacify, allay, locarnize
v. 2
To mollify, placate or soothe (someone or something).

Related words

Word family: pacifier pacific pacifism pacifist pacifistic

Forms

Past participle: pacified
e.g. pacified → appeased, mollified, assuaged, placated…

Choose the right word

Pacify, Allay, Appease, Calm, Compose or Quiet?

We allay excitement, appease a tumult, calm agitation, compose our feelings or countenance, pacify the quarrelsome, quiet the boisterous or clamorous, soothe grief or distress.

J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)

Example sentences

appease Only a sincere apology will appease my anger.
placate A compromise was reached to placate both sides.
assuage This medicine will assuage the pain.
mollify Mary tried to mollify Tom by singing him a lullaby.
mitigate There are measures you can take to mitigate clumping.
allay She tried to allay their fears but only ended up heightening them.

Popularity over time

Word	1850 → 2019	Trend
pacify		rising
appease		rising
placate		rising
assuage		rising
mollify		rising
mitigate		rising

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

3 letters: lay¹
4 letters: calm¹, ease¹, hush¹, lull¹
5 letters: still¹, quiet², quell¹, allay², abate²
6 letters: gentle², soften², soothe¹
7 letters: satisfy³, compose², appease², placate², assuage², mollify³, peacify
8 letters: moderate³, mitigate³, repacify
9 letters: alleviate⁴, locarnize, locarnise
10 letters: conciliate, propitiate, pacificate

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (quiet² = 2 syllables).

In other languages

Français: pacifier