Whenever the point of human sufferance is exceeded, the despot must propitiate the wrath of an insurgent people with the head of his minister, or he may tremble for his own.
The snake clan among the Moquis of Arizona say they are descended from a woman who gave birth to snakes, and they indulge in extraordinary snake dances to propitiatetheir tutelary genius.
To pacify the lion some prey must be thrown to him, and to him who thirsts for vengeance and blood, a human offering must be brought to propitiate him.
Every thing will come out right if we are only wise and carefully conform to circumstances, and by well-timed concessions and admissions propitiate this hate and bring this enmity to silence.
I would propitiate your indulgence for me by a libation of your own eau de Cologne poured out at your feet!
Livingstone had neither stores of food for his party, nor presents with which to propitiate the countless tribes of rapacious and suspicious savages that lined his path.
Mr. Hood getting ashore by stealth, came, however, unmolested to Annapolis and offered at a low price the goods he had brought out in the bark, thinking thus to propitiate his enemies.
It was the very day on which his brother, perhaps to propitiate the protector, had signed the treaty between the two nations.
If he were a god, he could work evil to the whole country, whether he remained on the seashore or advanced to the capital; and it was far better to propitiate him with gifts, than to anger him with opposition.
The Tabascans, cowed by the dreadful thunder weapons, and by the astounding armed creatures that had fallen upon them, had no wish for further fighting, and the principal caziques soon came in with offerings to propitiate the Spaniards.
Animated by these considerations and such hopes, Ohquamehud left the hut of Esther on the afternoon of the following day, topropitiate the Manito of the Falls.
His story caused no alarm to Peéna, inasmuch as acquainted with the superstitions of the Indians, she ascribed the sacrifice to a desire to propitiate the Manito, in order to secure a fortunate journey to the western tribe.
Indeed, the British government has been compelled to interfere and prohibit the sacrifice of human life to propitiate the Hindu gods.
Ten centuries ago he wore altogether a different character, but human sacrifices have always been made topropitiate him.
But Middleton was not one to forget the patron and prime mover of the expedition, whom he endeavoured to propitiate by sending him an abstract of his journal.
Finally Dixon, the under-factor, offered to show himself and propitiate the French.
In their fright and despair the English echoed the cry "Vive le Roi," thinking thereby to propitiate their aggressors.
The ascription of such power to the Meriah indicates that he was much more than a mere man sacrificed to propitiate a deity.
The King of Ibo (West Africa) "does not step out of his house into the town unless a human sacrifice is made to propitiate the gods: on this account he never goes out beyond the precincts of his premises.
In these Khond sacrifices the Meriahs are represented by our authorities as victims offered to propitiate the Earth Goddess.
He was determined to do it himself, because, being a superstitious gentleman, as well as a hunter, he had some foolish notion that this capture would propitiate a goddess whom he imagined required offerings of the kind.
Sergeant Wiltshire saw she was so thoroughly cowed she would be apt to truckle, and soften her evidence to propitiate the prisoner; so he asked her but one question.
Mrs. Gaunt seemed, by her manner, desirous to propitiate the witness.
She had depth enough also to perceive that Kate Mulvey was anxious enough to propitiate the good opinion, to which she had taken no pains to hide her indifference.
We see tables constructed to indicate the influence of the stars on each day of the year, with a mention of appropriate prayers, to propitiate favourable auguries and ward off those which are fatal.
This he effected, though his pious work did not propitiate Allah to alter his decrees with respect to his own fate; it was very miserable.
This ceremony is particularly practised by Greek mariners, who thus propitiate the Virgin before they sail.
Like enough hours will pass before Chunk comes back, and I must try to propitiate his grandam.
Mrs. Whately entered soon afterward and did her best to propitiate her niece.
In the best ages of Greece the worship of the various deities was sincere and universal, and was attended with sacrifices to propitiate favor or avert their displeasure.
His importance was due largely to the temporary enfeeblement of Egypt, which encouraged the ambition of the Phoenician and made it necessary to propitiate the holder of the key to an alternate trade route to the East.
A disposition to propitiate him even after he was dead is quite understandable.
The Kaiser wavered between a stiff attitude towards Britain and clumsy attempts to propitiate her, while his fleet grew and while he prepared for a preliminary struggle with Russia and France.
He gave Athens peace upon astonishingly generous terms; he displayed himself steadfastly resolved to propitiate and favour that implacable city; and in 338 B.
They may have ascribed a sort of were-wolf existence to the dead, and wished to propitiate them.
They have ceased to have a first notion upon anything without a second haunting it, which directs them to propitiate Fortune.
It signified brisk news to him, and prospect of glee to propitiate any number of devils.
His last resource to propitiateit was counselled by nature turned mathematician: tenacious extension solved the problem; he lay back at his length, and with his hat over his eyes consented to see nothing for the sake of comfort.
The first new milk of a cow was poured out on the ground to propitiate the fairies, and especially on the ground within a fairy rath.
Eddies of dust upon the road are supposed to be caused by the fairies, and tufts of grass, sticks, and pebbles are thrown into the centre of the eddy to propitiate the unseen beings.
It became necessary, therefore, for the Gaels who believed in the preternatural powers of the fairies for good and ill topropitiate them as far as possible.
The seekers for buried treasure, over which fairies were supposed to have influence, immolated a black cock or a black cat to propitiate them.
The truth is, that I don't believe the haughtiest duke in the three kingdoms is really so proud as your plain English rural peasant, nor half so hard to propitiate and deal with when his sense of dignity is ruffled.
They took the word for the deed; and at the cliff foot near Negai they erected a wooden shrine to propitiate the spirit of "Jiya Rokuro[u].
As for Pompey, he would not see the body, but to propitiate the avenging Nemesis, sent it to Sinope.
They believe they're a specially imported sort of devil, and take every opportunity to propitiate them with edible offerings.
Partly she was trying to propitiate him, but partly the exclamation was sincere.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "propitiate" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
