Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To urge with gentle and repeated appeals, teasing, or flattery; wheedle.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To deceive or delude by flattery, specious promises, simulated compliance with another's wishes, and the like; wheedle; coax.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To deceive with flattery or fair words; to wheedle.
WordNet 3.0
- v. influence or urge by gentle urging, caressing, or flattering
Etymologies
- French cajoler, possibly blend of Old French cageoler, to chatter like a jay (from geai, jai, jay; see jay2) and Old French gaioler, to lure into a cage (from gaiole, jaiole, cage; see jail).
Examples
“Why are our trained warriors risking their lives to "cajole" a vindictive Shia government to help poor Sunni squatters?”
“And then kind of cajole and push and say why certain things should work and certain things wouldn't work.”
“Austin's comment reflects the fact that software companies like IBM and Microsoft usually "cajole" their customers into buying more licences than they need - hence the difference between software sold versus software used.”
“cajole" companies, power ultimately lay with consumers, who should reject products which failed to meet the guidelines.”
“And it will take strong inducements to cajole creditors into accepting an exchange.”
The Wall Street Journal: Plan Focuses on Rescheduling of Greek Debt
“Erpenbach responded that Fitzgerald repeatedly overreached in his efforts to cajole the Democrats back to Madison.”
“Egypt's Hosni Mubarak is pragmatic in using his cache to cajole the parties to the negotiating table, yet is unwilling to align himself too closely with the United States or to expend too much political capital on the peace process.”
The Huffington Post: Richard Eisendorf: Who Will Be the Next Sadat?
“Convince, cajole, aggressively push China to drive domestic consumption, and have India, Brazil and a few other countries, maybe including Japan, push infrastructure spending much higher.”
The Wall Street Journal: CEOs Call for Less Regulation, Better Infrastructure
“It's not as if our teacher had to cajole us into cooperation every day.”
The Huffington Post: Miriam Novogrodsky: Divorce Knocked Me Down, Yoga Picked Me Up
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘cajole’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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3/4 year Vocab List
garbled, verbose, behoove, runt, douse, stipulate, condolence, incongruous, mundane, euphemism, brusque, labyrinth and 96 more...
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3/4 year Vocab List
lackluster, reprimand, loathe, abhor, willful, ample, tremulous, ominous, subtle, rescind, redundant, pretentious and 96 more...
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Talk Talk
Words for Talking
squawk, gab, chatter, chitchat, blab, prattle, blather, discuss, hector, plead, cajole, harangue and 189 more...
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my fab list
blowsabella, aperçu, froideur, salubrious, abject, gallipot, mumchance, wainscot, virago, macerate, lascivious, clandestine and 181 more...
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SAT Words
But only the ones that I don't already know.
abase, abash, abominate, abstruse, acclivity, accolade, accost, adroit, adulate, adulterate, adumbrate, affray and 241 more...
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Dash's list
Words of interest.
cacogen, fricatrice, destrier, swoon, multiverse, haggard, entranced, entheogen, passionate, ascendant, conciliator, bandylegged and 34 more...
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coax
cajole, blandish, inveigle, palaver, croodle, woo, charm, sweet-talk, tweedle, persuade, gentle, jolly and 5 more...
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fancy essay words
hiatus, ontology, exegesis, hermeneutics, dialectics, demiurge, ascertain, contention, eschatological, synecdoche, centripetal, centrifugal and 86 more...
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Vocab #8
avid, cajole, rudimentary, enhance, nuance, insolent, pretentious, ample, willful, abhor

curtiss A fuller definition from the American Heritage Dictionary:
(v.t.)
1. To persuade by flattery, gentle pleading, or insincere language.
2. To elicit or obtain by flattery, gentle pleading, or insincere language: The athlete cajoled a signing bonus out of the team's owner.
Jul 24, 2011
fbharjo bluejay talk Feb 9, 2007