propitiatory

Etymology

From the Latin propitiātōrius (“atoning; reconciling, propitiating”).

adj

  1. Intended to propitiate, reconcile, expiate or appease; conciliatory.
    Hecatombs were early substituted for single victims; and, to render the worship still more propitiatory, these were soon exchanged for human sacrifices. 1831, Timothy Dwight, Theology Explained and Defended, in a Series of Sermons, page 493
    So that no words can be more propitiatory; and it is to be observed, that, while they are spoken, the Minister is holding the consecrated elements in his hand, tendering them at the same time to God, and to the communicants. 1838, Tracts for the Times, Volume 4: 1836-7, page 326
    The weak branded those they feared evil, and praised the ‘propitiatory’ qualities natural to men like themselves who were incapable of aggression.[…]Those who cultivate humility and the other propitiatory virtues to cloak their weakness nourish an envious resentment against those stronger than themselves. 1978, Philippa Foot, “Nietzsche: The Revaluation of Values”, in Virtues and Vices and Other Essays in Moral Philosophy, University of California Press, published 1981, page 82

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