pacification

/ˌpæsəfəˈkeɪʃən/

Other forms: pacifications

Pacification is an attempt to create or maintain peace. That can mean appeasing a hostile country through diplomacy or even just by settling an argument.

A pacifist is someone who is against fighting and wars. That can help you remember that pacification is a means — usually carried out by a government — to keep the peace or end a conflict. If two countries are having a war of words that could escalate, one country could use foreign aid (money) as a means of pacification. If a country is battling a revolution from within, stopping the insurgency can also be called pacification.

Definitions of pacification

1. noun

   the act of appeasing someone or causing someone to be more favorably inclined
   “a wonderful skill in the pacification of crying infants”

   synonyms: mollification

   type of:

   appeasement, calming

   the act of appeasing (as by acceding to the demands of)
2. noun

   actions taken by a government to defeat insurgency
   synonyms: counterinsurgency

   type of:

   battle, conflict, struggle

   an open clash between two opposing groups (or individuals)
3. noun

   a treaty to cease hostilities
   synonyms: peace, peace treaty

   examples:

   Peace of Westphalia

   the peace treaty that ended the Thirty Years' War in 1648

   Treaty of Versailles

   the treaty imposed on Germany by the Allied powers in 1920 after the end of World War I which demanded exorbitant reparations from the Germans

   type of:

   accord, pact, treaty

   a written agreement between two states or sovereigns