appease

uh-PEEZverb

Meaning to calm someone by giving them what they demand

Memory hook a-PEAS: PEAS for PEACE. The dragon roars for its dinner, so Sven slides it a giant bowl of peas. Full and happy, it settles down: Sven appeases the dragon.

To stop the twins’ chant of “Snacks! Snacks!”, Mom appeased them with a plate of crackers.

In context The king tried to appease the angry dragon with a cartload of gold, hoping that once it got what it wanted, it would leave the village in peace.

Similar placate, pacify, satisfy, buy off

Opposite provoke, anger, enrage

From Old French apaisier, “to bring to peace”: a (to) + pais (peace), from Latin pax.