pro·pi·ti·ate

(prō-pĭsh′ē-āt′)

tr.v. pro·pi·ti·at·ed, pro·pi·ti·at·ing, pro·pi·ti·ates

To gain or regain the goodwill or favor of; appease: propitiate the gods with a sacrifice.

[Latin propitiāre, propitiāt-, from propitius, propitious; see propitious.]

pro·pi′ti·a·ble (-pĭsh′ē-ə-bəl, -pĭsh′ə-bəl) adj.

pro·pi′ti·a′tive adj.

pro·pi′ti·a′tor n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Adj.

propitiative - intended to reconcile or appease; "sent flowers as a propitiatory gesture"

propitiatory

conciliative, conciliatory - intended to placate; "spoke in a conciliating tone"; "a conciliatory visit"

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References in periodicals archive

Strong notes the propitiative behaviors the Innu direct towards all bears and bear remains.

Given the propitiative practices the Innu observed in disposing of all animal remains, and especially those of bears, it seems unlikely that much future trace of the grizzly bear's tenure will be revealed through archaeology at ancestral Innu sites in the Quebec-Labrador interior (although additional finds, like the Okak grizzly skull, are possible at Labrador Inuit sites, where trophies of interior hunts might have been brought out to the coast).

Further documentation supporting the former existence of grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) in northern Quebec-Labrador

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