- (often passive) usually followed by to: to make (oneself or another) no longer opposed; cause to acquiesce in something unpleasant: she reconciled herself to poverty
- to become friendly with (someone) after estrangement or to re-establish friendly relations between (two or more people)
- to settle (a quarrel or difference)
- to make (two apparently conflicting things) compatible or consistent with each other
- to reconsecrate (a desecrated church, etc)
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
rec•on•cile /ˈrɛkənˌsaɪl/USA pronunciation
v., -ciled, -cil•ing.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- to cause (a person) to accept or be resigned to something not desired:[~ + object + to + object]He was reconciled to his fate.
- to (cause to) become friendly or peaceable again, as by settling a quarrel: [~ + object]to reconcile hostile persons.[no object]The husband and wife reconciled last week.
- to compose or settle (a quarrel, dispute, etc.):[~ + object]They have reconciled their differences.
- to bring into agreement:[~ + object]reconciled financial accounts.
rec•on•cile
(rek′ən sīl′),USA pronunciation v., -ciled, -cil•ing.
v.t.
v.i.
rec′on•cile′ment, n.
rec′on•cil′er, n.
rec′on•cil′ing•ly, adv.
v.t.
- to cause (a person) to accept or be resigned to something not desired:He was reconciled to his fate.
- to win over to friendliness;
cause to become amicable:to reconcile hostile persons. - to compose or settle (a quarrel, dispute, etc.).
- to bring into agreement or harmony;
make compatible or consistent:to reconcile differing statements; to reconcile accounts. - to reconsecrate (a desecrated church, cemetery, etc.).
- to restore (an excommunicate or penitent) to communion in a church.
v.i.
- to become reconciled.
- Latin reconciliāre to make good again, repair. See re-, conciliate
- Middle English reconcilen 1300–50
rec′on•cil′er, n.
rec′on•cil′ing•ly, adv.
- 2. pacify, propitiate, placate. 4. harmonize.
- 3. anger.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
reconcile /ˈrɛkənˌsaɪl/ vb (transitive)
'reconcile' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
accommodate
- Averroës
- Burnet
- conciliatory
- Philo Judaeus
- Pico della Mirandola
- resign
- seem
- accept
- accord
- adapt
- adjust
- Chinese calendar
- conciliate
- harmonize
- heal
- intercede
- interference
- mediate
- psychosynthesis
- reconcilable
- reconciliate
- reconciliation
- reconciliatory