- 1
To propitiate someone is to do something that cools their anger and wins a kinder feeling — a gift, an apology, a sacrifice, a careful kindness. The old picture is a person trying to please a god who might punish them, and that religious use is still the strongest one in serious writing. Though actually, you can propitiate a boss or a neighbour too, but it sounds grand for everyday peace-making. People say say sorry or try to win them round. Propitiate is formal, a little old, and often slightly dark: you are not just being nice; you are trying to turn harm away. It is not a gentle small-talk word, and it is not the same as propose or proprietary, which only look a bit like it.
安撫、平息（怒氣）；宗教上指求神息怒
組成From Latin propitiāt-, the past participial stem of propitiāre (make favourable), from propitius (favourable, gracious).
同家族的字
- propitiationthe noun: the act or the offering
- propitiatorythe adjective: meant to win a kinder feeling
- propitiousfrom the same Latin propitius (favourable); means kindly or lucky, not the act of soothing
原始詞典資料3 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
propitiateverb/ˌpɹəˈpɪʃieɪt/
- 1
To conciliate, appease, or make peace with someone, particularly a god or spirit.
- Let fierce Achilles, dreadful in his rage, The god propitiate, and the pest assuage.
- But polite and politic it is, to propitiate your hostess.
- 2
To make propitious or favourable.
- But what was that compared to the pleasure of gazing on him, and listening to his words of pity or of praise! to witnessing the sparkling of his eyes when he gazed on his boy, and sought, by every possible medium, to coax him to his arms, a task not to be achieved in a moment; or in listening to that praise of Lord Allerton, which was likely to propitiate Mary in his favour!
- 3
To make propitiation.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。