Meaning & use
extended an olive branch
Last updated
“extended an olive branch” is a form of “extend an olive branch”.
Meaning
phraseidiom
Made a friendly gesture to end a disagreement or start peace talks with someone.
Grammar: Used with a person after 'to' or with a possessive: 'extend an olive branch to someone'.
Patterns
- extend an olive branch to someone
- extend an olive branch
After weeks of silence, he extended an olive branch and invited his neighbor over for coffee.
The two companies finally extended an olive branch and agreed to talk about a partnership.
She extended an olive branch to her former colleague by sending a short, friendly email.
Common combinations
- extend an olive branch to
- The manager extended an olive branch to the team by listening to their complaints.
- offer an olive branch
- He offered an olive branch after the argument, but she wasn't ready to talk.
- hold out an olive branch
- The country held out an olive branch, hoping to restart peace talks.
Synonyms and how they differ
- make peace
- This is a more general phrase; 'extend an olive branch' suggests a specific friendly action, often the first step.
- reconcile
- This is more formal and often means both sides become friendly again, while 'extend an olive branch' can be one-sided.
Opposites
Commonly confused: extended an olive branch or branch out?
extended an olive branch vs branch out
This means to try new activities, not to make peace.
Practice
After the quarrel, she decided to ______ an olive branch to her sister.
Choose one answer.
'Extend an olive branch' is the fixed idiom meaning to make a peace offer. 'Expand' means to make bigger, 'extent' is a noun, and 'expend' means to use up (like energy), so none of those fit.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “extended an olive branch”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.