propitiate
/ˌpɹəˈpɪʃieɪt/
"propitiate" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“propitiate” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To conciliate, appease, or make peace with someone, particularly a god or spirit.
Corpus desk
Index EN-propitiate · propitiate · English
propitiate · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "P" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | propitiate |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˌpɹəˈpɪʃieɪt/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “propitiate” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
propitiate is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed /ˌpɹəˈpɪʃieɪt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for propitiate, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin propitiāt-, the past participial stem of propitiāre (“make favourable”), from propitius (“favourable, gracious”). The correct English form is propitiate, spelled P-R-O-P-I-T-I-A-T-E.
Definition
- 1To conciliate, appease, or make peace with someone, particularly a god or spirit.
- 2To make propitious or favourable.
- 3To make propitiation.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how propitiate appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Let fierce Achilles, dreadful in his rage, The god propitiate, and the pest assuage.
But polite and politic it is, to propitiate your hostess.
Etymology
From Latin propitiāt-, the past participial stem of propitiāre (“make favourable”), from propitius (“favourable, gracious”).
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.