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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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
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
Noun
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But despite his entreaties, including meeting with Putin in Alaska, floating sanctions relief, and threatening to cut off aid to Kyiv, the Russian president has refused to be charmed into giving up on his invasion.—
Mira Rapp-Hooper,
Foreign Affairs,
29 Oct. 2025
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However, so far, WBD has turned down the Ellison entreaties.—
Brian Stelter,
CNN Money,
23 Oct. 2025
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
Noun
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The exhortation from players and fans alike is directed toward Bubacarr Jallow, and encapsulates the unique, aggressive style the senior defender and midfielder exudes.—
Greg Dudek,
Boston Herald,
28 Oct. 2025
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Who knows — this one might, in tiny increments, one acoustic guitar lick or exhortation to live fully at a time.—
Chris Willman,
Variety,
24 Oct. 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.—
Jacob Camenker,
USA Today,
2 Nov. 2025
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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.—
Lillian Metzmeier,
Louisville Courier Journal,
27 Oct. 2025
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 6 Nov. 2025.
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