as in persuading
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as in cajoling
to get (someone) to do something by gentle urging, special attention, or flattery
trying to coax their father into taking them on a ski trip, the teens mentioned what a great skier he is
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Recent Examples of coaxing
Mike Jones, New York Times, 15 Jan. 2026
Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 5 Feb. 2026
The principal cellist of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Huntington begins each practice session with long bow strokes close to the bridge, gently but firmly coaxing sound that will project to the back of the concert hall.
—Domenica Bongiovanni, IndyStar, 4 Feb. 2026
Quietly confident — In spite of all that, Waymo is confident that its vehicles won’t take too much coaxing to get used to London roads.
—Billy Perrigo, Time, 30 Jan. 2026
His father, Nerijus, played basketball in Lithuania and had a helping hand in coaxing the twins’ return.
—Jeff Vorva, Chicago Tribune, 24 Jan. 2026
That’s your choice to prioritize more dependable success over bragging rights for coaxing a half dead super-choice plant through the vagaries of a yo-yo bit of winter.
—Paul Cappiello, Louisville Courier Journal, 16 Jan. 2026
And vendors that are feeling burned might need a little coaxing, even if many of the designers have few easy alternatives to fill the Saks Global-sized hole in their business.
—Footwear News, 14 Jan. 2026
David then spent years coaxing Cruise, along with producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Tony Scott, to make a sequel.
—Reeves Wiedeman, Vulture, 12 Jan. 2026
Vrabel, who played alongside Brady for Bill Belichick before establishing himself as a coach in Tennessee, led them to a 14-3 record while coaxing a possible MVP performance out of now-sophomore QB Drake Maye.
—Hannah Keyser, CNN Money, 10 Jan. 2026
Noun
Pushing, pulling and coaxing wins out of his team amid bleak situations is what Tomlin does.
—Mike Jones, New York Times, 15 Jan. 2026
Verb
Maye has done both without much coaxing this postseason.
—Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 5 Feb. 2026
The principal cellist of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Huntington begins each practice session with long bow strokes close to the bridge, gently but firmly coaxing sound that will project to the back of the concert hall.
—Domenica Bongiovanni, IndyStar, 4 Feb. 2026
Quietly confident — In spite of all that, Waymo is confident that its vehicles won’t take too much coaxing to get used to London roads.
—Billy Perrigo, Time, 30 Jan. 2026
His father, Nerijus, played basketball in Lithuania and had a helping hand in coaxing the twins’ return.
—Jeff Vorva, Chicago Tribune, 24 Jan. 2026
That’s your choice to prioritize more dependable success over bragging rights for coaxing a half dead super-choice plant through the vagaries of a yo-yo bit of winter.
—Paul Cappiello, Louisville Courier Journal, 16 Jan. 2026
And vendors that are feeling burned might need a little coaxing, even if many of the designers have few easy alternatives to fill the Saks Global-sized hole in their business.
—Footwear News, 14 Jan. 2026
David then spent years coaxing Cruise, along with producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Tony Scott, to make a sequel.
—Reeves Wiedeman, Vulture, 12 Jan. 2026
Vrabel, who played alongside Brady for Bill Belichick before establishing himself as a coach in Tennessee, led them to a 14-3 record while coaxing a possible MVP performance out of now-sophomore QB Drake Maye.
—Hannah Keyser, CNN Money, 10 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for coaxing
Noun
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But Putin cannot have needed much persuading to agree to a formal invitation to the US to have the bilateral meeting his team have long held out as the way towards peace in Ukraine.—
Nick Paton Walsh,
CNN Money,
9 Aug. 2025
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In the framework of conversational intelligence, most workplace communication falls into Level 1 (telling) or Level 2 (persuading).—
Susan Curtin,
Forbes.com,
5 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Europe has long underspent on defense, and where American cajoling for decades had not worked, a few face slaps succeeded.—
Eliot A. Cohen,
The Atlantic,
19 Jan. 2026
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Although Texas, Missouri, Ohio and North Carolina went along, Indiana did not -- despite cajoling and insults from the president and the possibility of primary challenges.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
12 Dec. 2025
Noun
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Checkers can see your shortcuts, your reportorial wheedling, your blind spots.—
Zach Helfand,
New Yorker,
25 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Both Kelly and Landfair were adamant about their love, and a 17-year-old Landfair was so deep under her abuser’s spell that her parents had no hope of successfully luring her away from Kelly.—
Cheyenne Roundtree,
Rolling Stone,
31 Jan. 2026
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If the crisp, cold weather is luring you into a secluded, comfortable hideaway, Amazon’s tiny home collection is a good place to start.—
Julia Morlino,
Travel + Leisure,
31 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Talent agencies last year expressed interest in signing AI actor Tilly Norwood, sparking outrage among Hollywood celebrities yet wooing studios who found Norwood a potentially profitable venture.—
Jake Angelo,
Fortune,
29 Jan. 2026
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And a whole succession of leaders from countries that are nominally still American allies — Britain, Germany, South Korea — are wooing rather than shunning Beijing to deepen economic cooperation.—
Andreas Kluth,
Twin Cities,
22 Jan. 2026
Verb
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In the complaint, which was first filed in September in a North Carolina state court, plaintiff Heather Ammel accused Sinema of seducing her ex-husband Matthew Ammel, who began working for Sinema in April 2022 as part of her security detail.—
Chad de Guzman,
Time,
16 Jan. 2026
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In Arthur Penn’s 1975 neo-noir Night Moves, Griffith is Delly Grastner, a 16-year-old runaway with a little girl’s voice and a grown woman’s body—on full display in an underwater nude scene—intent on seducing Gene Hackman, 43 and paunchy.—
Lili Anolik,
Vanity Fair,
12 Jan. 2026
Noun
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The entreaties have often fallen flat; the Klaxon can only be sounded so many times before it’s ignored, and, for most people, more prosaic issues govern their daily existence.—
Michael Luo,
New Yorker,
27 Jan. 2026
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That decision was prompted in no small part by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s entreaties to Trump.—
Bloomberg,
Mercury News,
22 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Arab and Islamic countries, including Turkey and Qatar, have been urging both sides to show restraint, warning that any strike or retaliation could have destabilizing consequences for a region already strained by the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.—
Farnoush Amiri,
Los Angeles Times,
11 Feb. 2026
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The cases led investigators to release Garcia-Aquino's picture, urging any potential victims to come forward.—
Matthew Rodriguez,
CBS News,
11 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Coaxing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/coaxing. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
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