He made an offering to propitiate the angry gods. the temple was once the site of sacrifices—both to honor the gods in times of plenty and to propitiate them in times of trouble

Recent Examples on the Web

Norman’s description of a crisis over which deity to propitiate, a crisis that began with the thirteenth and continues to the present day, is impressive in its clarity. Donald S. Lopez, New York Times, "Who Is the Dalai Lama?," 25 Feb. 2020

These ghosts have been stalking the premises since the Great Famine, when a local man committed a sickening murder in an attempt to propitiate the ancient gods. Sam Sacks, WSJ, "Fiction Chronicle: Under West Indian Eyes," 18 May 2018

Soon after Kuchibhotla’s murder, a commentator in India a grave irony: in the run-up to the 2016 election, a number of right-leaning American Hindus , not only with donations but also with elaborate prayer ceremonies to propitiate the gods. Adam Davidson, The New Yorker, "Being Indian in Trump’s America," 15 Mar. 2017

In interviews, the inhabitants complained that rocks being blasted off the mountains were falling on their homes and angering the local neak ta, who had to be propitiated with offerings of roast pigs. Julia Wallace, New York Times, "A Race to Document Rare Plants Before These Cliffs Are Ground to Dust," 13 Feb. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'propitiate.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.