How to Use placate in a Sentence

placate

verb
  • The angry customer was not placated by the clerk's apology.
  • The administration placated protesters by agreeing to consider their demands.
  • And the draft that has emerged appears to try to placate both.
    — Julie Rovner, Kaiser Health News, 22 June 2017
  • The allies have tried to placate him.
    — Simon Shuster, The Atlantic, 26 Mar. 2026
  • Surely, more could have been done to placate him.
    — Zak Garner-Purkis, Forbes.com, 29 Jan. 2026
  • My plan was to use an assumed name but even this doesn't placate him.
    — Carolyn Hax, oregonlive, 27 Oct. 2019
  • So the girls resolve to have a hunt and placate the wilderness.
    — Proma Khosla, IndieWire, 12 Apr. 2025
  • The twins are then clothed, fed, and adorned to placate the spirit of the deceased.
    — San Diego Union-Tribune, 4 Feb. 2023
  • That’s not true — but once again, the city wants to placate adults at the expense of children.
    — Christine M. Flowers, Philly.com, 22 Mar. 2018
  • But that did little to placate those who want the artwork removed.
    — Isabel Debre, The Seattle Times, 14 Jan. 2019
  • The other women cooed and hummed to try to placate her curly-haired toddler.
    — New York Times, 17 Apr. 2018
  • The second column seemed to placate most of those angered by the first, but not all.
    — Creg Stephenson | [email protected], al, 8 Nov. 2022
  • Wellington tries to placate her, but Keane isn't having any of it.
    — Ethan Renner, baltimoresun.com, 14 Feb. 2018
  • But one look at the forthcoming movie’s cast should placate even the most doubtful mind.
    — Estelle Tang, Vogue, 21 Nov. 2019
  • Erstwhile rock and roll rebels have cleaned up their acts to placate censors or been sidelined.
    — Reuters, Fortune, 27 Jan. 2017
  • There was no base to placate or excite in the hours of Charlottesville.
    — CBS News, 7 June 2019
  • On the road below, guards tried to placate a group begging for drinking water.
    — Molly Hennessy-Fiske, latimes.com, 4 Aug. 2017
  • But Downtown isn't taking that risk to placate one of its staff writers.
    — Tom Roland, Billboard, 20 June 2018
  • Critics said the ban was long overdue and done to placate protesters.
    — Lyndsay Winkley, San Diego Union-Tribune, 23 May 2021
  • Maybe that deal has to be kept private, in order to placate Ukraine's leaders.
    — Joel Mathis, The Week, 8 Dec. 2021
  • Why placate someone and, as a result, not enjoy myself as much?
    — R. Eric Thomas, Mercury News, 27 Sep. 2025
  • The apologies did little to placate those calling for Moore's job.
    — Jordan Culver, USA TODAY, 3 June 2020
  • One of the pair holds up a knife to the other’s throat while the other places a placating hand to the other’s chest.
    — Kimberlee Speakman, People.com, 6 Aug. 2025
  • Back in the car, Arce decided to change tactics and stop trying to placate the man.
    — Tricia Nadolny, USA TODAY, 4 Sep. 2019
  • Ms Patel’s trip to the seaside was an attempt to placate such critics.
    — The Economist, 15 Aug. 2020
  • Cora seemed placated by his response, and the two agreed to meet in two days to head up to Berkeley.
    — Literary Hub, 3 July 2025
  • Many of Change’s largest clients were kept in the dark or offered vague bromides to placate them while their systems were down.
    — Erika Fry, Fortune, 23 Apr. 2024
  • Britain’s prospective next PM tries to placate bond markets after sell-off.
    — Ian King, CNBC, 20 May 2026
  • Will a Super Bowl ring be enough to placate Ajayi for another year?
    — Adam H. Beasley, miamiherald, 5 Feb. 2018
  • But Peikoff seemed to indicate that Parler would make more changes to placate the tech giant.
    — Nicolás Rivero, Quartz, 11 Mar. 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'placate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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