placation

English

Etymology

From Latin placatio.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

placation (countable and uncountable, plural placations)

1. A process or act of placating; appeasement or an expression of appeasement.
   • 1888, “Manners and meals”, in Science, volume 12, number 283, page 3:

     The refusal, at certain times and seasons, of food that in itself is hygienically good and palatable, in placation of a deity, or, without further explanation, to avoid bad luck, is well known among the lower tribes of men.

   • 1917 April, Jack London, chapter VII, in Jerry of the Islands, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC, page 100:

     Instead, Jerry [a dog] was all placation and appeal, all softness of pleading in a body denied speech that nevertheless was articulate, from wagging tail and wriggling sides to flat-laid ears and eyes that almost spoke, to any human sensitive of understanding.

   • 2006 May 14, Dan DeWalt, “Impeachment is too important to leave to the Democrats”, in OpEdNews.com, retrieved 8 Aug. 2009:

     While these political sellout artists have been intoning their mind numbing placations, citizens across the nation have been speaking and acting.

Derived terms

• placative, placatory

Anagrams

• Pactolian, pactional