Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 16, 2023 is: pacify \PASS-uh-fye\ verb

The verb pacify has several related definitions. Among the most common are “to soothe the anger or agitation of” (as in “pacify a crying child”) and “to appease” (“trying to pacify the enemy”).

// Whenever there’s a thunderstorm I find that letting my dog sleep at the foot of the bed helps to pacify her.

[See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pacify)

Examples:

“Sometimes, I like to pretend I have an extremely refined [palate](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/palate) when picking an ice cream flavor, but sometimes, my taste buds just want to be pacified.” — Madeline Wells, SFGate.com, 29 Mar. 2022

Did you know?

Pacify is the oldest of a set of soothing words that floated into English on the buoy of Latin pac- or pax, meaning “peace.” It arrived in the 15th century, and was followed by [pacifier](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pacifier) and [pacific](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pacific) in the subsequent century. These words and other pac-/pax relations have proven useful. While 16th century pacifiers soothed and subdued in general ways, by the turn of the 20th century pacifier was being used with a new meaning referring specifically to a device for a baby to suck on. Also dating to around the turn of the 20th century are [pacifist](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pacifist) and [pacifism](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pacifism). [Pay](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pay) also comes ultimately from this root (by way of Latin pacare, meaning “to pacify”), as does the gentlest of this lexical family, the word [peace](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/peace) itself.