Library / English Dictionary

PERSUADE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cause somebody to adopt a certain position, belief, or course of action; twist somebody's arm

Example:

You can't persuade me to buy this ugly vase!

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "persuade" is one way to...):

cause; get; have; induce; make; stimulate (cause to do; cause to act in a specified manner)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "persuade"):

hustle (pressure or urge someone into an action)

bring around; bring round (cause to adopt an opinion or course of action)

badger (persuade through constant efforts)

sell (persuade somebody to accept something)

chat up (talk to someone with the aim of persuading him)

talk into (persuade somebody to do something)

rope in (draw in as if with a rope; lure)

blarney; cajole; coax; inveigle; palaver; sweet-talk; wheedle (influence or urge by gentle urging, caressing, or flattering)

convert; convince; win over (make (someone) agree, understand, or realize the truth or validity of something)

brainwash (persuade completely, often through coercion)

assure (assure somebody of the truth of something with the intention of giving the listener confidence)

charm; influence; tempt (induce into action by using one's charm)

prevail (use persuasion successfully)

drag (persuade to come away from something attractive or interesting)

tempt (try presumptuously)

make; score; seduce (induce to have sex)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody to INFINITIVE
Somebody ----s somebody into V-ing something

Sentence example:

They persuade him to write the letter

Antonym:

dissuade (turn away from by persuasion)

Derivation:

persuader (someone who tries to persuade or induce or lead on)

persuasible (being susceptible to persuasion)

persuasion (the act of persuading (or attempting to persuade); communication intended to induce belief or action)

persuasive (intended or having the power to induce action or belief)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Win approval or support for

Example:

His speech did not sway the voters

Synonyms:

carry; persuade; sway

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "persuade" is one way to...):

act upon; influence; work (have and exert influence or effect)

Verb group:

carry (win in an election)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

persuasible (being susceptible to persuasion)

persuasive (intended or having the power to induce action or belief)

Credits

 Context examples: 

I was able at last to persuade my companion to take my advice, though I knew from his excited manner that there was not much hope of sleep for him.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Another time she would persuade him to take a position, for had he not said he would do anything she asked?

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I am blind and cannot judge of your countenance, but there is something in your words which persuades me that you are sincere.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

You’ll never persuade me to believe that.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You will be able to attract the attention of VIPs and persuade them of the validity of your ideas.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Chandos hath persuaded the prince to leave many behind, and indeed I think that he is right, for there is little food and less water in these parts for which we are bound.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Yet I persuaded myself that it must have been some nervous contraction which I had surprised, for he turned to me an instant later with genuine concern upon his features.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

How was he to be reached? how persuaded?

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Here my master interposed, by asking me, “how I could persuade strangers, out of different countries, to venture with me, after the losses I had sustained, and the hazards I had run?”

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

My muscles were small and soft, like a woman’s, or so the doctors had said time and again in the course of their attempts to persuade me to go in for physical-culture fads.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)