1. To make peaceful and quiet: The romantic film on TV in the evening helped to appease Becky after a long and hard day’s work at the office.
2. To calm, to satisfy: May's boss, Mr. Big, wanted to appease his secretary for his outburst by giving her a raise in her salary.
3. To bring calm to; to soothe: Trudy tried to appease her daughter with comforting words after she had had a terrible quarrel with her boyfriend.
4. To satisfy or to relieve: The nurse tried to appease the man’s thirst by giving him some water to drink.
5. To pacify or to attempt to pacify an enemy by granting concessions, often at the expense of principles: The nation appeased the government of the opposing country by accepting its demands in an attempt to avert a war.
6. Etymology: from Old French apeserm "to pacify", from the phrase a paisier, "bring to peace"; from a-, "to" + pais, from Latin pacem, pax, "peace".

"Appeasement" was first recorded in 1919 in the international political sense; and it was not pejorative until the failure of Arthur Neville Chamberlain's policy toward Germany in 1939. "Methods of appeasement" was British Prime Minister Chamberlain's description of his policy.

We can speak of hunger being appeased by food. Appeasing usually involves giving something; whereas, "pacifying" tends to refer to anything from stroking a baby to using armed forces to stop an uprising.

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