CONCILIATION

conciliation,n.1. A settlement of a dispute in an agreeable manner. 2. A process in which a neutral person meets with the parties to a dispute and explores how the dispute might be resolved; esp., a relatively unstructured method of dispute resolution in which a third party facilitates communication between parties in an attempt to help them settle their differences. • Some jurisdictions, such as California, have Family Conciliation Courts to help resolve problems within the family. — Also termed (in sense 2) facilitation; conciliation procedure. Cf. MEDIATION; ARBITRATION. — conciliate,vb. — conciliative, conciliatory,adj. — conciliator,n. [Blacks Law 8th]