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peace offering

peace offering

17 3.7
A gift or action that ends an argument and brings back friendship
  • noun
  • /piːs ˈɔːfərɪŋ/
translation icon : gesto de conciliación
  • After their disagreement, she gave him a peace offering in the form of a homemade cake.
  • make a peace offering
  • accept the peace offering
  • bring a peace offering

Which is why I brought these few small peace offerings.

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Examples

  • This evening, on my commute back home from work, I saw this rainbow—suppose it's nature's pretty peace offering following the ugliness of a particularly stormy night?

    Blog text (6)
  • The next night, James was back at about ten-thirty with a six-pack of Rolling Rock and a peace offering.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • Here, this is a peace offering.

  • Look, I brought you a little gift, a little peace offering.

  • I just came to make a peace offering.

  • I brought you a little peace offering.

  • Here is my peace offering.

    Academic text (2014)
  • Please see this invite as a peace offering.

  • I know how you like special pets, so I brought you a peace offering.

  • Unexpectedly, she smiled at me—a peace offering.

    Fiction book (2002)

Synonyms

olive branch
vspeace offering
  • Informal
12 3.7

A gesture showing a wish to make peace after a disagreement

is a gift or gesture meant to restore friendly relations

Antonyms

236 3.0

An inner struggle between different feelings or desires

147 4.7

Unfriendly or angry actions and feelings toward someone

How Reconciliatory

reconciliation
114 5.3
peace offering
17 3.7
apology
671 1.0
olive branch
  • Informal
12 3.7
gesture
245 3.2

Surface Forms

Morphology

peace + offering

The meaning 'a gift or gesture to restore friendly relations' is directly and compositionally derived from 'peace' (friendly relations) + 'offering' (something offered/a gift). This noun+noun pattern expressing purpose or intent is cross-linguistically common and easily predictable, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Peace offering may come from the simple image of someone holding out a gift or an olive branch to stop a fight. Because a person gives an offering to bring peace, the phrase now means a present or small gesture to 'restore friendly relations' or 'end a disagreement'.