To calm someone who is angry, upset, or restless, or to bring peace to a region or country that has conflict.
From Latin pacificare, combining pax (peace) + facere (to make); literally means 'to make peaceful,' and has been used for centuries in both personal and political contexts.
The word carries a hidden history—European colonial powers used 'pacification' to describe their violent conquest of indigenous peoples, turning what should mean 'making peace' into a euphemism for military domination.
Colonial pacification campaigns used gendered narratives of 'civilizing' (often targeting indigenous women's autonomy) and relied on masculine military power. The word carries gendered imperial ideology.
Prefer 'negotiate,' 'resolve conflict,' or 'stabilize' to avoid paternalistic framings that historically targeted women's independence.
["negotiate","resolve","stabilize","mediate"]
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