persuade

verb

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

Early on, Melvin mediated fights between inmates and persuaded them to sneak in hair ties for him. — Lizzie Presser, ProPublica, "The Reels Brothers Spent Eight Years in Jail for Refusing to Leave It.," 15 July 2019 For example, agents often carry decoy photos, holding them up to the windows of migrants who are being targeted and pretending to be looking for someone else, to persuade them to open the door. — New York Times, "ICE Launches Raids Targeting Migrant Families," 14 July 2019 Brisk sales that Christmas season, especially after the opening of their online store, persuaded them to keep at it. — Alfred Miller, The Courier-Journal, "This Kentucky clothing brand is spreading Appalachian chic worldwide," 8 July 2019 The Trump administration’s flurry of unilateral economic sanctioning has sometimes seemed crafted with the intention of repelling would-be allies, rather than persuading them to join U.S.-driven economic wars. — Phillip Dehne, Twin Cities, "Phillip Dehne: How World War I transformed economic warfare," 2 July 2019 And no one was going to persuade him to stop eating. — Kristen Baldwin, EW.com, "A brief history of Bachelor and Bachelorette villains eating on camera," 2 July 2019 Churgai said her group initially approached Maryland and persuaded it of the need for well-crafted and standardized training. — Meredith Cohn, baltimoresun.com, "University of Maryland School of Pharmacy to offer medical cannabis education," 27 June 2019 Holly is trying to persuade June to give birth in some kind of holistic spa-type facility run by a friend of hers. — Emma Dibdin, Harper's BAZAAR, "This Week's Grueling Handmaid's Tale Is A One-Woman Show," 27 June 2018 Earlier this year, Cheney helped to persuade the White House to abandon Trump’s initial plan to withdraw all U.S. forces from Syria. — Eli Lake, The Denver Post, "Guest Commentary: Republican hawks need Liz Cheney in the Senate," 30 June 2019

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.