Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- transitive v. To persuade or attempt to persuade by flattery or guile; cajole.
- transitive v. To obtain through the use of flattery or guile: a swindler who wheedled my life savings out of me.
- intransitive v. To use flattery or cajolery to achieve one's ends.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- v. To cajole or attempt to persuade by flattery.
- v. To obtain something by guile or trickery.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- transitive v. To entice by soft words; to cajole; to flatter; to coax.
- transitive v. To grain, or get away, by flattery.
- intransitive v. To flatter; to coax; to cajole.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To entice, especially by soft words; gain over by coaxing and flattery; cajole; coax; flatter; hence, to hoax; take in.
- To gain or procure by flattery or coaxing.
- To flatter; coax.
- n. One who wheedles; a cajoling or coaxing person.
- n. A piece of cajolery; a flattering or coaxing speech; a hoax.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- v. influence or urge by gentle urging, caressing, or flattering
Etymologies
Examples
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Ms. LENHART: We heard from teens who said, you know, when I want the yes, I'll go to the phone because my parents can hear my voice and I can kind of wheedle and I can charm them, and that's how I'm going to get what I want.
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She will connive and she will lie and she will wheedle her way in as far as she can wheedle, further than you can imagine, until — — oh, I don't know — — she has the password to your SL account.
"We think we've climbed so high, Up all the backs we've condemned..."
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He, who was sheer bladed steel in the imperious flashing of his will, could swashbuckle and bully like any over-seas roisterer, or wheedle as wickedly winningly as the first woman out of Eden or the last woman of that descent.
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In puzzle mode that initially just means activating them slowly enough not to cause collisions, but later levels demand deeper experimentation with order and timing before you wheedle out a viable solution.
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A quick phone call to Robert ensured she would be well guarded, and Brystion managed to wheedle our way out of too many questions.
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He hopes to wheedle enough support from the national and prefecture governments to show progress rebuilding before leading citizens move away.
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If not, how did Action Canada wheedle their way in to this otherwise good group of charities?
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Their favorite words are words that can said with a sneer, but they enjoy words that bark, growl, whine, wheedle, and spit with rage too.
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In both cases, what is going on is a display of pinstriped muscle – an attempt to wheedle, lobby and finally intimidate government from making whatever decisions it feels are necessary in the national rather than sectional interest.
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Religious Hucksters do more than wheedle money out of their flock.
yarb commented on the word wheedle
Citation on poising.
July 23, 2009
bilby commented on the word wheedle
There's a Wheedle
On the Needle
I know just what
You're thinking
But if you look up
Late at night
You'll se
His red nose blinking.
- Steven Cosgrove, 'Wheedle on the Needle'.
January 21, 2009
yarb commented on the word wheedle
There began a creaky, squeaky, whinny-whining of the wheels as the wagon wheedled along.
- William Steig, Farmer Palmer's Wagon Ride
September 29, 2008
mariecarnes commented on the word wheedle
"There's no surer way to make me want to understand than to tell me I won't. I wheedled him, demanding that he tell me." Little Brother - Cory Doctorow
July 3, 2008