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
Noun
Checkers can see your shortcuts, your reportorial wheedling, your blind spots.
—Zach Helfand, New Yorker, 25 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for wheedling
Noun
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Pushing, pulling and coaxing wins out of his team amid bleak situations is what Tomlin does.—
Mike Jones,
New York Times,
15 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
That decision was prompted in no small part by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s entreaties to Trump.—
Bloomberg,
Mercury News,
22 Jan. 2026
-
Moscow is, so far, rebuffing its peace entreaties over Ukraine.—
Nick Paton Walsh,
CNN Money,
21 Jan. 2026
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
-
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
Noun
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Trump’s exhortations to the oil industry dovetail with a broader push to address cost-of-living concerns weighing heavily on Republicans’ bid to maintain control of Congress in November’s midterm elections.—
Bloomberg Wire,
Dallas Morning News,
10 Jan. 2026
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In Queen Mother, Farmer takes a clear-eyed look at Moore’s foibles, noting her absenteeism during her son’s formative years, her embrace of patriarchal hierarchy in Black communities, and her exhortations for Black women to embrace polygyny to facilitate nation building.—
Dara T. Mathis,
The Atlantic,
16 Dec. 2025
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.—
Rachel Hale,
USA Today,
17 Jan. 2026
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Ghost sued Wilson for defamation, leading to a countersuit accusing Ghost, Gregory Cameron, and Vince Holden of breach of contract, false imprisonment, fraudulent inducement, and infliction of emotional distress.—
Larisha Paul,
Rolling Stone,
15 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Impressed by the senator’s blandishments, the egoistic journalist argues military strategy and then faces a moment of conscience.—
Armond White,
National Review,
17 May 2023
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People want to hear blandishments about engagement and infrastructure.—
Rory Smith,
New York Times,
14 Apr. 2023
Noun
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In this newest cover-up, Clooney repeats his film’s original failing — its nostalgic salute to the power of electronic media suasion.—
Armond White,
National Review,
30 Apr. 2025
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Finally, the original Concert vision embraced formal deliberation and moral suasion as the key mechanism of collaborative foreign policy.—
Stacie E. Goddard,
Foreign Affairs,
22 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Wheedling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/wheedling. Accessed 29 Jan. 2026.
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