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History vocabulary · Wars, Treaties and Diplomacy

Appeasement

Meaning in history, with examples

nounCommon term

In history, appeasement means: A policy of making concessions to a threatening power in the hope of avoiding conflict.

In Turkish: yatıştırma politikası

How it is used

Often discussed in relation to the 1930s; distinguish the policy's intentions from its outcomes.

Example sentences

  1. The cabinet defended appeasement as a way to gain time for rearmament.

    The sentence reports the policymakers' justification.

  2. The essay asks whether this concession actually amounted to appeasement.

    A concession requires context before receiving the historical label.

Common collocations

  • a policy of appeasement
  • criticism of appeasement
  • world warA war in which most of the world's major powers take part and fighting spreads across several continents; in practice, the wars of 1914–1918 and 1939–1945.
  • treatyA formal written agreement between two or more states, for example to end a war, settle borders or create an alliance.

More terms: Wars, Treaties and Diplomacy

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