persuasion

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The act of persuading or the state of being persuaded: "The persuasion of a democracy to big changes is at best a slow process” ( Harold J. Laski).
2. n. The ability or power to persuade: "Three foremost aids to persuasion which occur to me are humility, concentration, and gusto” ( Marianne Moore).
3. n. A strongly held opinion; a conviction. See Synonyms at opinion.
4. n. A body of religious beliefs; a religion: worshipers of various persuasions.
5. n. A party, faction, or group holding to a particular set of ideas or beliefs.
6. n. Informal Kind; sort: "the place where ... rockers of any gender or persuasion can become megastars” ( Christopher John Farley).

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The act of persuading, influencing, or winning over the mind or will to some conclusion, determination, or course of action, by argument or the presentation of suitable reasons, and not by the exercise of authority, force, or fear; a coaxing or inclining of the mind or will by argument, or by appeals to reason, interest, the feelings, etc.
2. n. The state of being persuaded or convinced; settled opinion or conviction.
3. n. An inducement; a reason or motive for a certain action.
4. n. Way of thinking; creed or belief; hence, a sect or party adhering to a creed or system of opinions: as, Christians of the same persuasion.
5. n. Kind; sort.
6. n. Synonyms Opinion, Belief, Persuasion, Conviction, and Faith agree in expressing the assent of the mind. Opinion has the least feeling or energy, is most inellectual. Belief may be purely intellectual, or largely moral by the consent of the feelings or the will. Persuasion is a word borrowed from the field of action; primarily, we persuade one to do something by motives addressed to his feelings or interests; when the word is applied to opinions, it seems to retain much of its original sense, suggesting that the persuasioh is founded largely on the feelings or wishes: we have a pesuasion of that which we are willing to believe. Conviction starts from the other side, primarily suggesting that one was rather reluctantly forced to belive by the weight of evidance; it is now more often used of settled, profound, amd earnest beliefs: as, his deepest convictions of right and duty. Faith rests upon belief, but implies confidence in a person on whose authority one depends at least partly, and the gathering of feeling about the opinion held; it is a confident belief: as, to have implict faith in a friend or a promise. See inference, and quotation from Wordsworth under definition 2.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The act of persuading; the act of influencing the mind by arguments or reasons offered, or by anything that moves the mind or passions, or inclines the will to a determination.
2. n. The state of being persuaded or convinced; settled opinion or conviction, which has been induced.
3. n. A creed or belief; a sect or party adhering to a certain creed or system of opinions
4. n. The power or quality of persuading; persuasiveness.
5. n. rare That which persuades; a persuasive.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a personal belief or judgment that is not founded on proof or certainty
2. n. the act of persuading (or attempting to persuade); communication intended to induce belief or action