as in coaxing
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as in cajoling
to get (someone) to do something by gentle urging, special attention, or flattery
wheedled him into doing their work for them
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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Recent Examples of wheedling
Zach Helfand,
New Yorker,
25 Aug. 2025
Natalie Oganesyan,
Deadline,
18 Jan. 2026
Noun
Checkers can see your shortcuts, your reportorial wheedling, your blind spots.
—
Zach Helfand,
New Yorker,
25 Aug. 2025
Verb
In a bid to rekindle the couple’s honeymoon phase, Yasmin troubleshoots by wheedling a chief executive role for him at payment processing company Tender (run by Max Minghella‘s inscrutable puppet-master Whitney Halberstram), and throwing her husband a lavish costume party for his 40th birthday.
—
Natalie Oganesyan,
Deadline,
18 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for wheedling
Noun
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And honestly, this type of traveler doesn’t need the most coaxing to try out a cruise vacation.
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No coaxing or pulling from the crate.
Noun
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These are the people who will likely be most amenable to negotiations or personal entreaties.
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Rajoub refused the entreaty, much to the frustration and embarrassment of Infantino.
Noun
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And social media is presumably where AI will do much of its persuading.
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The 70-year-old was explaining how the revival came about through years-long persuading of Emmy-winning creator and executive producer Linwood Boomer.
Noun
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Lundberg writes that the poem is both an explication of the promise of America and an exhortation to persevere on behalf of the country.
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Advertisement While Pulisic is no recluse—he’ll go to an occasional nice dinner with friends—exhortations to step out more go mostly unheeded.
Noun
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The material contained on this site is intended to inform, entertain and educate the reader and in no way represents an inducement to gamble legally or illegally or any sort of professional advice.
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Yet our findings show that, whatever the eventual benefit may prove to be, the costs of inducement are notably higher than state officials initially projected.
Noun
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Impressed by the senator’s blandishments, the egoistic journalist argues military strategy and then faces a moment of conscience.
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People want to hear blandishments about engagement and infrastructure.
Noun
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All that remains may be the power of public suasion, but Gilead hasn’t demonstrated much sensitivity to such pressure.
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In some circumstances, moral suasion can also be effective.
Cite this Entry
“Wheedling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/wheedling. Accessed 28 Jun. 2026.
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