Conciliatory
/kənˈsɪliəˌtɔːri/
adjectiveC1
Definition
Conciliatory means showing a desire to end a fight or argument by being kind, calm, and willing to agree. It is often used when someone wants to make peace or improve a difficult situation between people.
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See It in Action
Showing willingness to make peace or calm a conflict
- •She gave a conciliatory smile after the argument.
- •His conciliatory tone helped calm the angry crowd.
- •The manager made a conciliatory gesture to avoid a strike.
Intended to bring agreement or reduce disagreement
- •The letter was conciliatory, hoping to solve the dispute.
- •They offered a conciliatory proposal to end the negotiation.
Make It Stick
- ✓Think of "conciliatory" like "nice" or "friendly," but with a special goal to stop a fight or problem.
- ✓Picture two people arguing, and one offers a calm, soft smile or a gentle hand to show they want peace.
- ✓It feels like when you say sorry or give a gift to fix a mistake and make someone feel better.
- ✓Sounds like "CON-silly-atory" → imagine someone acting a little silly but in a kind way to make others laugh and calm down.
- ✓In stories, a conciliatory character is the one who helps friends stop fighting and find agreement.
- ✓NOT like "angry" (shows strong negative feelings), conciliatory is calm and peaceful.
- ✓NOT like "demanding" (forcing something), conciliatory tries to find a friendly solution.
- ✓NOT like "ignoring" (doing nothing), conciliatory is active and tries to fix problems.
Try Other Words
- •Peaceful: calm and without conflict (Use when focusing on calmness rather than active peacemaking)
- •Appeasing: trying to please to avoid anger (Use when someone tries to calm others by giving in)
- •Reconciling: bringing people back together after a fight (Use when emphasizing restoring relationships)
- •Pacifying: calming anger or excitement (Use when focusing on reducing strong emotions)
Unboxing
- •Prefix "con-" means "together" or "with"
- •Root "cili-" comes from Latin "concilium" meaning "meeting" or "bringing together"
- •Suffix "-atory" means "related to" or "serving to"
- •Origin: From Latin "conciliatorius," meaning tending to bring people together or make peace
- •Historically used in formal or diplomatic language to describe efforts to reduce conflict
- •Today, used to describe actions, words, or attitudes that try to calm disagreements or arguments
Reflect & Connect
•How can using a conciliatory tone change the outcome of a disagreement in your life?
•Can a conciliatory approach be seen as weak or strong? Why do you think so?
Fill in the blanks
1.After the argument, she spoke in a conciliatory ___ to calm everyone down.
2.A conciliatory gesture often helps ___ anger and start a friendly talk.
3.Unlike being angry, a conciliatory person tries to ___ the problem peacefully.
4.Saying "I'm sorry" is a common conciliatory ___ to fix mistakes.
5.The leader made a conciliatory proposal ___ the two sides to agree.
6.When someone is conciliatory, they usually avoid ___ words or actions.
7.A conciliatory approach is useful when you want to ___ a fight instead of making it worse.