Word a Day
placate
What does placate mean?
placate (verb): to calm; to bring peace to; to influence someone who was furious to the point that they become content or at least no longer irate.
Definition: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
How do you use placate in a sentence?
- That won't placate the mob. (Tatoeba sentence #6218552 by megamanenm, CC BY 2.0 FR)
Where does placate come from?
First attested in the late 17th century; borrowed from Latin plācātus, perfect passive participle of plācō (“appease, placate”, literally “smooth, smoothen”), ultimately thought to be from Proto-Indo-European *plāk- (“smooth, flat”).
Etymology: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
What are synonyms of placate?
From Princeton WordNet 3.1.
Test yourself: do you know “placate”?
Tap an answer to check it. The same questions the app asks.
What does “placate” mean?
to boast; to talk with excessive pride about what one has, is able to do, or has done; often as an attempt to popularize oneself
Not quite: that's what brag means.
to bend down; to stoop low; to stand close to the ground with legs bent, like an animal when waiting for prey, or someone in fear
Not quite: that's what crouch means.
to calm; to bring peace to; to influence someone who was furious to the point that they become content or at least no longer irate
Right! That's what “placate” means.
to hold in belief or estimation; to adjudge as a conclusion; to regard as being; to evaluate according to one's beliefs; to account
Not quite: that's what deem means.
Which word is closest in meaning to “placate”?
abolish
Not quite: abolish means something else.
shuffle
Not quite: shuffle means something else.
concede
Not quite: concede means something else.
appease
Right!
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