placate

English

WOTD – 16 January 2007

Etymology

From Latin plācātus, past participle of plācō (“appease, placate”, literally “smooth, smoothen”), from Proto-Indo-European *plāk- (“smooth, flat”), from *pele- (“broad, flat, plain”). Related to Latin placeō (“appease”), Old English flōh (“flat stone, chip”). More at please.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pləˈkeɪt/, /pleɪˈkeɪt/
(US) IPA^(key): /ˈpleɪkeɪt/, /pleɪˈkeɪt/
Audio (US) (file)
Audio (AU) (file)
Rhymes: -eɪt

Verb

placate (third-person singular simple present placates, present participle placating, simple past and past participle placated)

(transitive) 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.
(Can we add an example for this sense?)

Synonyms

(to calm): appease, conciliate, mollify, propitiate, satisfy

Antonyms

(to calm): enrage

Derived terms

placater
placating
placatingly
placation
placative
placatory

Related terms

placid

Translations

to calm

Arabic: هَدَّأَ‎ (haddaʾa), اِسْتَرْضَى‎ (istarḍā)
Armenian: հանգստացնել (hy) (hangstacʿnel)
Bulgarian: успокоявам (bg) (uspokojavam), омиротворявам (bg) (omirotvorjavam)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 安撫／安抚 (zh) (ānfǔ), 平息 (zh) (píngxí)
Czech: uklidnit (cs) pf, zklidnit pf, utišit (cs) pf
Dutch: kalmeren (nl), bedaren (nl)
Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
Finnish: lepyttää (fi), rauhoittaa (fi)
French: apaiser (fr), calmer (fr)
Georgian: please add this translation if you can
German: beschwichtigen (de), besänftigen (de), begütigen (de), beruhigen (de)
Gothic: 𐍆𐌿𐌻𐌻𐌰𐍆𐌰𐌷𐌾𐌰𐌽 (fullafahjan)
Greek: κατευνάζω (el) (katevnázo)
Hebrew: הרגיע‎ (hirgía)
Hungarian: kiengesztel (hu)
Icelandic: róa, sefa, fróa
Italian: placare (it)
Japanese: なだめる (ja) (nadameru)
Khmer: កំសាន្ត (kɑmsaan)
Latin: pācificō
Maori: whakamārie, whakamauru
Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
Portuguese: aplacar (pt)
Russian: умиротворя́ть (ru) (umirotvorjátʹ), успока́ивать (ru) (uspokáivatʹ), унимать (ru) (unimatʹ), утихомиривать (ru) (utixomirivatʹ)
Serbo-Croatian: umiriti (sh), умирити, smiriti (sh), смирити
Spanish: aplacar (es)
Swedish: blidka (sv)
Thai: ปลอบโยน (bplòp yohn), ปลอบใจ (bplòp jai)
Vietnamese: xoa dịu

Anagrams

epactal

Italian

Verb

placate

inflection of placare:
1. second-person plural present indicative
2. second-person plural imperative
3. feminine plural past participle

Anagrams

catalpe

Latin

Verb

plācāte

second-person plural present active imperative of plācō

References

“placate”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“placate”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
placate in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette