persuade

verb

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per·suade | \ pər-ˈswād

persuaded; persuading

Definition of persuade

transitive verb

1 : to move by argument, entreaty, or expostulation to a belief, position, or course of action

2 : to plead with : urge

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Examples of persuade in a Sentence

He persuaded his friend to go back to school. She couldn't be persuaded to go. He would not let himself be persuaded into buying the more expensive stereo. I am not easily persuaded. They persuaded us that we were wrong. He persuaded himself that he had made the right choice.

Recent Examples on the Web Ischinger’s immediate goal is to persuade the president to attend his influential annual conference. — Mark Landler, BostonGlobe.com, "Will Biden be an activist president on the world stage?," 20 Jan. 2021 After Buckingham Palace confirmed last week that the Queen and Prince Philip had both received the first dose of the vaccine, Finding Freedom author Omid Scobie said the Cambridges could be good candidates to persuade others to get immunized. — Emily Dixon, Marie Claire, "Kate Middleton and Prince William Might Get the COVID-19 Vaccine on Camera," 15 Jan. 2021 Waters and Onwuachi have helped form a group called the Coalition to Stop Restaurant Tariffs, whose goal is to persuade the administration of President-elect Joe Biden to eliminate the wine and food tariffs as soon as possible. — Esther Mobley, SFChronicle.com, "A new wine tariff could make French wines 25% more expensive in the Bay Area," 12 Jan. 2021 The goal now is to persuade people living in encampments to come indoors and seek long-term help. — Tim Harlow, Star Tribune, "Fire breaks out at downtown St. Paul homeless encampment," 18 Dec. 2020 This answer might persuade people who admire Nancy Pelosi and Dianne Feinstein. — Alex Pareene, The New Republic, "This Might Be a Good Time for Democrats in Congress to Stop Trading Stocks," 30 Jan. 2021 Biden’s task is to educate, persuade, and depoliticize at a moment when the nation’s crises are escalating rapidly. — Dhruv Khullar, The New Yorker, "Biden’s Pandemic Plan Might Just Work," 27 Jan. 2021 Universities could persuade the big platforms to penalize undergraduates who cross the line. — Washington Post, "A tweet got a promising Howard student in trouble. Perhaps the platforms, and not schools, should penalize users.," 8 Jan. 2021 And the torrent of money might at least persuade more skilled engineers in China to work on chips instead of video games and food delivery apps. — New York Times, "With Money, and Waste, China Fights for Chip Independence," 24 Dec. 2020

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'persuade.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.