Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To ease the anger or agitation of (a person or the mind, for example).
- transitive verb To calm or soothe (a feeling, such as anger).
- transitive verb To end war, fighting, or violence in (a region or country), especially by military force.
- transitive verb To subdue or quell (an insurrection or conflict, for example).
- transitive verb To cause (a group) to end a rebellion or other violent action.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To appease; calm; quiet; allay the agitation or excitement of: as, to
pacify a man when angry. - To restore peace to; tranquilize: as, to
pacify countries in contention. - Synonyms To conciliate, assuage, still, lull, smooth, compose, soothe, mollify.
- To make peaceful by force; render inactive by depriving of the means of opposition.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To make to be at peace; to appease; to calm; to still; to quiet; to allay the agitation, excitement, or resentment of; to tranquillize
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive To bring
peace to (a place or situation), by endingwar ,fighting ,violence ,anger oragitation . - verb transitive To
appease (someone).
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb fight violence and try to establish peace in (a location)
- verb cause to be more favorably inclined; gain the good will of
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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"It is impossible for me," he writes to Nagni, the French nuncio, 2 April, 1629, "to put in jeopardy the common fatherhood and, in consequence, to be no longer able to heal and pacify, which is the proper business of the pope as vicar of Christ"
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 15: Tournely-Zwirner 1840-1916 1913
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In 112 BCE, the Han's southern campaign to "pacify" the Southern Yue subjugated the Southern and Western Barbarians, resulting in the establishment of Yuexi and Shenli commanderies. 21 In 109 BCE, the Han conquered the Laojin and Mimo peoples. 22 Under enormous military pressure, the king of Dian surrendered.
Between Winds and Clouds: The Making of Yunnan (Second Century BCE to Twentieth Century CE) 2008
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So this might've been sent out to them as a way to kind of pacify the troops.
Justice vs. CIA 2009
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The Turkish-Armenian dialogue is known to have been advocated by successive U.S. administrations as a way to "pacify" the Armenian lobby and to weaken the incessant congressional efforts for U.S. recognition of the "Armenian genocide," a development that would most certainly damage U.S.
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He also publicly denounced Israel for seeking, in his words, to "pacify" the Palestinians rather than reach a peace agreement with them and he praised the work of John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, authors of The Israel Lobby.
Jacob Heilbrunn: Neocons Win Big Victory Over Obama: Charles Freeman Resigns 2009
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As in Vietnam, the goal would seem to be to install a regime run by the United States and to "pacify" the country into accepting it.
Obama's LBJ Moment 2009
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As in Vietnam, the goal would seem to be to install a regime run by the United States and to "pacify" the country into accepting it.
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Promoted to Headline (H2) on 9/27/09: Obama's LBJ Moment yahooBuzzArticleHeadline = 'Obama\'s LBJ Moment'; yahooBuzzArticleSummary = 'Article: As in Vietnam, the goal would seem to be to install a regime run by the United States and to "pacify" the country into accepting it.
Obama's LBJ Moment 2009
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The US and its NATO allies can barely come up with the troops to "pacify" Afganistan which has only 25M people without contemplating going into Pakistan with its population of 130M.
John Terry’s sacking as England captain tells us something interesting... 2009
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It seems that the thirst for oil is so great as to even place the Iraqis on reservations as was done to "pacify" our own Native Americans.
Tom Hayden: Pressuring the Democrats on Peace: A Commentary on the Fifth Anniversary of the War 2008
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