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CONVINCING
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I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Causing one to believe the truth of something
Example:
a convincing manner
Classified under:
Similar:
credible (appearing to merit belief or acceptance)
disenchanting; disillusioning (freeing from illusion or false belief)
Also:
persuasive (intended or having the power to induce action or belief)
Antonym:
unconvincing (not convincing)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
-ing form of the verb convince
Context examples:
Circumstantial evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau’s example.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The steadiness of his manner, and the intelligence of his eye as he spoke, convincing Elinor, that whatever other unpardonable folly might bring him to Cleveland, he was not brought there by intoxication, she said, after a moment's recollection, Mr. Willoughby, you OUGHT to feel, and I certainly DO—that after what has passed—your coming here in this manner, and forcing yourself upon my notice, requires a very particular excuse.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
I would entertain myself in forming and directing the minds of hopeful young men, by convincing them, from my own remembrance, experience, and observation, fortified by numerous examples, of the usefulness of virtue in public and private life.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
Possibly I recited with a certain joyous lilt which was my own, for—his memory was good, and at a second rendering, very often the first, he made a quatrain his own—he recited the same lines and invested them with an unrest and passionate revolt that was well-nigh convincing.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
Fanny wrote to offer herself; and her mother's answer, though short, was so kind—a few simple lines expressed so natural and motherly a joy in the prospect of seeing her child again, as to confirm all the daughter's views of happiness in being with her—convincing her that she should now find a warm and affectionate friend in the mama who had certainly shewn no remarkable fondness for her formerly; but this she could easily suppose to have been her own fault or her own fancy.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
"A most interesting and convincing experience," said Challenger, as we halted beside the brook and he bathed a swollen knee.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
And if sight alone were not sufficient, the cry of rage the intruder gave, beginning with a snarl and rushing abruptly upward into a hoarse screech, was convincing enough in itself.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
As it was, he found Spencer's explanation of things convincing; and, as he phrased it to himself, to give up Spencer would be equivalent to a navigator throwing the compass and chronometer overboard.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
Mr. Palmer maintained the common, but unfatherly opinion among his sex, of all infants being alike; and though she could plainly perceive, at different times, the most striking resemblance between this baby and every one of his relations on both sides, there was no convincing his father of it; no persuading him to believe that it was not exactly like every other baby of the same age; nor could he even be brought to acknowledge the simple proposition of its being the finest child in the world.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
I shall have to tell my tale to the police; but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so vague that it is a question whether justice will be done.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
