What does conciliation mean?
Conciliation is the act of ending a dispute or calming hostility by appealing to goodwill rather than force. It describes both the effort to win over someone who is angry or opposed — often by offering concessions or reassurance — and the formal mediation of conflicts between parties such as employers and unions or rival states. The word derives from the Latin conciliare, meaning 'to bring together' or 'to unite,' which also underlies 'conciliate' and 'conciliatory.' Conciliation sits comfortably alongside related terms like mediation and reconciliation: it emphasizes the patient, persuasive process of restoring harmony, while reconciliation points to the harmonious state achieved. In everyday use it connotes tact, diplomacy, and a preference for peace over confrontation, making it a valued quality in negotiators, diplomats, and anyone tasked with smoothing over conflict.
The action of stopping someone from being angry or discontented; the act of placating or winning over.
"A gesture as small as a sincere apology served as effective conciliation."
Mediation aimed at reconciling parties in disagreement, especially through a neutral third party in industrial or international disputes.
"The union and management agreed to submit their dispute to official conciliation."
In this specialized sense, conciliation services are common features of labor law in the UK and other jurisdictions.
Conciliation is usually treated as uncountable when referring to the general practice; a plural form exists for counting distinct instances or episodes of conciliation, though it appears mainly in formal or historical writing.
"The archive records several successful conciliations between the warring factions."
The word 'conciliation' comes from the same Latin root as 'council' — literally 'to call together' — so every act of conciliation is, at heart, an invitation back to the table.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of conciliation
Conciliation entered English from Latin via French, deriving from the Latin verb conciliare, 'to bring together, unite, win over,' itself formed from concilium ('an assembly, council') plus the frequentative suffix -are. The root concilium combines cum- ('together') with calare ('to summon, call'), so the word's deepest sense is 'a calling together.' The noun was borrowed into English in the 16th century, initially in the general sense of bringing people into agreement or favor, before developing its specialized modern senses in diplomacy and industrial arbitration.
Related word forms
How conciliation is actually used
Conciliation is a formal register noun, most at home in diplomatic, legal, and industrial-relations writing. It carries a generally positive connotation of goodwill and patience, though in political contexts it can occasionally imply weakness or excessive yielding (echoing the sense of 'appeasement'). It is uncountable in its general sense but can take an indefinite article when referring to a specific act or instance.
Easily confused with conciliation
Reconciliation refers to the restoration of a relationship to harmony after estrangement, while conciliation is the act or process of appeasing or mediating that leads toward such resolution — conciliation is the means, reconciliation the outcome.