as in coaxing
to get (someone) to do something by gentle urging, special attention, or flattery
cajoled her into doing his laundry for him
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Recent Examples of cajoling
But, rather than give up, Azel became a pickleball advocate, tirelessly educating, lobbying and cajoling politicians, park directors and anyone else who would listen about the incredible growth of the sport nation-wide.
—
Walter Villa, Miami Herald, 14 Oct. 2025
Touches five and six are merely the cajoling preamble to the pièce de résistance, aka touch seven, a piercing through ball which splits defender Goncalo Inacio and backtracking forward Geny Catamo like a warm bread knife through a ciabatta roll straight out of Mama’s oven.
—Tim Spiers, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2025
Getting anything done is hard and takes persuading, cajoling, or even sucking up, depending on who is at the receiving end.
—Shivaram Rajgopal, Forbes.com, 6 Sep. 2025
After years of cajoling workers, employers are taking a harder line.
—Jessica Guynn, USA Today, 28 Aug. 2025
Naomi is a textbook Jewish mother, nagging and cajoling and smothering her children with logorrheic abandon.
—Alison Herman, Variety, 22 Aug. 2025
When everything goes right, the airlines’ practiced, cheerful funneling and cajoling, plus the snacks and in-seat entertainment, make the experience feel anodyne and efficient.
—Jeff Wise, The Atlantic, 8 Aug. 2025
Walter Villa, Miami Herald, 14 Oct. 2025
Touches five and six are merely the cajoling preamble to the pièce de résistance, aka touch seven, a piercing through ball which splits defender Goncalo Inacio and backtracking forward Geny Catamo like a warm bread knife through a ciabatta roll straight out of Mama’s oven.
—Tim Spiers, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2025
Getting anything done is hard and takes persuading, cajoling, or even sucking up, depending on who is at the receiving end.
—Shivaram Rajgopal, Forbes.com, 6 Sep. 2025
After years of cajoling workers, employers are taking a harder line.
—Jessica Guynn, USA Today, 28 Aug. 2025
Naomi is a textbook Jewish mother, nagging and cajoling and smothering her children with logorrheic abandon.
—Alison Herman, Variety, 22 Aug. 2025
When everything goes right, the airlines’ practiced, cheerful funneling and cajoling, plus the snacks and in-seat entertainment, make the experience feel anodyne and efficient.
—Jeff Wise, The Atlantic, 8 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cajoling
coaxing
Verb
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One of his former teachers was still there, coaxing students to line up neatly.—
Rachel Monroe,
New Yorker,
25 Oct. 2025
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But coaxing nematodes is tricky and time-consuming, so Ortega-Jiménez collaborated with Ranjiangshang Ran, a postdoc studying fluid mechanics at Emory University, who ran computer simulations of thousands more jump trajectories.—
Cody Cottier,
Scientific American,
23 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Cajoling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cajoling. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
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