Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To bring by the use of argument or evidence to firm belief or a course of action. See Synonyms at persuade.
- v. Obsolete To prove to be wrong or guilty.
- v. Obsolete To conquer; overpower.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To persuade or satisfy by argument or evidence; cause to believe in the truth of what is alleged; gain the credence of: as, to convince a man of his errors, or to convince him of the truth.
- To evince; demonstrate; prove.
- To refute; show to be wrong.
- To overpower; conquer; vanquish.
- To convict; prove or find guilty.
- Synonyms Convince, Persuade. To convince a person is to satisfy his understanding as to the truth of a certain statement; to persuade him is, by derivation, to affect his will by motives; but it has long been used also for convince, as in Luke xx. 6, “they be persuaded that John was a prophet.” There is a marked tendency now to confine persuade to its own distinctive meaning.
Wiktionary
- v. To make someone believe, or feel sure about something, especially by using logic, argument or evidence.
- v. To overcome, conquer, vanquish.
- v. To confute (someone); to prove (someone) wrong; to overcome (someone) in argument.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To overpower; to overcome; to subdue or master.
- v. To overcome by argument; to force to yield assent to truth; to satisfy by proof.
- v. To confute; to prove the fallacy of.
- v. To prove guilty; to convict.
WordNet 3.0
- v. make (someone) agree, understand, or realize the truth or validity of something
Etymologies
- Latin convincere, to prove wrong : com-, intensive pref.; see com- + vincere, to conquer; see weik-3 in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“I. vii.64 (432,5) Will I with wine and wassel so convince] To _convince_ is in Shakespeare to _overpower_ or _subdue_, as in this play,”
“Sometimes the hardest person to convince is myself.”
Zen Power Writing: 15 Tips on How to Generate Ideas and Write with Ease | Write to Done
“I was sure I could never again convince anyone that my IQ was actually higher than the room temperature.”
“An illusion that won't convince is a palpable lie, and that's what grand opera is to me when little Barillo throws a fit, clutches mighty Tetralani in his arms (also in a fit), and tells her how passionately he adores her.”
“But convict or convince is the thing intended; and as the one expresses the work of the Spirit on the unbelieving portion of mankind, and the other on the believing, it is better not to restrict it to either.”
“As if he had said, "O ye Corinthians, to whom I am now writing, I would fain convince you how well I love you: we are desirous to promote the spiritual and eternal welfare of all to whom we preach, yet our mouth is open unto you, and our heart is enlarged unto you, in a special manner.”
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume VI (Acts to Revelation)
“Additionally, please post more horse ***** by this ***** who tried to convince us that the English words sun and son have had shared literal meanings among languages where the phonetics of the two words were completely ***** different.”
“We cannot let Dr. Griffin convince us that even if we don’t like her style she’s the only one who can change things, because clearly things are getting worse, not better.”
“Proving himself a regular in a side that hopes to challenge for Champions League qualification and, ultimately, the title should convince the winger that he can also flourish at international level.”
The Guardian: Stewart Downing on England: 'I don't want to be making up the numbers'
“Could it actually play out that, after squandering his idol last week, Russell will let a single word convince him he's safe this week, hold onto his idol, and blow his reverse-blindside strategy?”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘convince’.
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Academic Vocabulary
Use these and get promoted
abandon, abandonment, abnormally, abstract, abstraction, abstractly, abstracts, academia, academic, academically, academics, academies and 3092 more...
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grade 3
ability, absorb, act, tive, actual, adopt, advantage, ambition, ancient, arrange, arctic, attitude and 125 more...
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Ayumi G3
Ability, absorb, accuse, act, active, actual, adopt, advantage, advice, ambition, ancient, approach and 128 more...
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Word List Level RED 1-40
Ability, absorb, accuse, act, active, actual, adopt, advantage, advice, ambition, ancient, approach and 28 more...
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Word List Level RED 1-40
absorb, accuse, act, active, actual, adopt, advantage, advince, ambition, ancient, approach, arrange and 28 more...
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Word List - Level Red 1-40
Ability, absorb, accuse, act, active, actual, adopt, advantage, advice, ambition, ancient, approach and 28 more...
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Grade 3
Ability, absorb, ability, accuse, act, active, actual, adopt, advantage, advice, ambition, ancient and 26 more...
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