coax
1 Americanverb (used with object)
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coaxes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
coaxed,
past participle, past
-
coaxing
present participle
-
to influence or persuade to do something by gentle urging, smooth talk, flattery, etc..
He tried to coax her to sing, but she refused.
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to obtain by coaxing.
We coaxed the secret from him.
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to manipulate to a desired end by adroit handling or persistent effort.
He coaxed the large chair through the door.
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Obsolete.
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to fondle.
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to fool; deceive.
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verb (used without object)
-
coaxes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
coaxed,
past participle, past
-
coaxing
present participle
noun
verb
-
to seek to manipulate or persuade (someone) by tenderness, flattery, pleading, etc
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(tr) to obtain by persistent coaxing
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(tr) to work on or tend (something) carefully and patiently so as to make it function as one desires
he coaxed the engine into starting
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obsolete (tr) to caress
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obsolete (tr) to deceive
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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coaxsimple
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coaxessimple
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have coaxedperfect
-
has coaxedperfect
-
am coaxingprogressive
-
are coaxingprogressive
-
is coaxingprogressive
-
have been coaxingperfect progressive
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has been coaxingperfect progressive
Past
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coaxedsimple
-
had coaxedperfect
-
was coaxingprogressive
-
were coaxingprogressive
-
had been coaxingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of coax1
First recorded in 1580–90; verb use of obsolete cokes “fool,” perhaps variant of coxcomb ( def. )
Origin of coax2
First recorded in 1945–50; by shortening
Explanation
When you coax someone, you try to convince him gently, with pleasant words and maybe a little flattery. You’ll have to be patient, as you can’t rush someone you’re trying to coax. When you coax, you have to be nice about it — you can’t threaten or force. You put on a little charm and gently urge, so that the person or thing is happy about being coaxed. You might coax the runaway elephant back into the zoo by patting her gently and talking into her ear. If you wake up with a terrible bedhead, you might coax your hair back into place with the help of a little hair gel and a comb.
Vocabulary lists containing coax
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The day was in the low 70s, and a breeze was coming through our kitchen window; I decided I would not mind standing at the stove long enough to coax the squash toward sweet collapse.
From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026
It’s no secret that some members of the Fed’s rate-setting committee favor interest-rate hikes to coax inflation back down.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 26, 2026
The new album appears designed to tease, coax and overwhelm the listener.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
Kevin Warsh, the new Federal Reserve chair, is helping coax Treasury yields lower by talking tough on inflation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
Henry Reid advised employees to stay on the lookout for spies disguised as Langley Field soldiers and warned of fifth column plants who might coax valuable research from unwitting laboratory employees.
From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly
Thanks to cultivation techniques, the Huntington coaxes the plants to bloom every two to three years, not four to six like they do in their natural habitat, where they’re endangered.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
Allegra Goodman’s family saga coaxes, in Sam Sacks’s words, “excellent, bone-dry humor” out of the skirmishes and long-running battles among members of a loving, fractious clan.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 27, 2026
Within this vulnerability, Wolf coaxes out a complex portrait of an ambitious artist burning to express his eternal creativity at the expense of living as his true self.
From Salon ● Dec. 17, 2025
It’s not until Pointer coaxes her to take off her artificial leg, leaving her dependent on him, that her internal alarm bells start to go off.
From Slate ● Mar. 29, 2024
The memory actually coaxes a smile out of me.
From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins
They coaxed, cajoled, begged and beseeched for support to bring the tournament to North America.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 7, 2026
The whale was coaxed into the water-filled barge on Tuesday, in a mission funded by two German entrepreneurs.
From BBC ● Apr. 29, 2026
The drippings, on that first night, don’t go to waste: they’re coaxed into something worthy of the occasion, slicked over potatoes or spooned onto rice, greener and more herb-laced than you might expect.
From Salon ● Apr. 26, 2026
If Iran can’t be coaxed by China or other mediators to reach terms, he may have to escalate more than he ever intended or wanted to.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 17, 2026
As he coaxed the flames higher, his thoughts again focused on escape.
From "Touching Spirit Bear" by Ben Mikaelsen
The woman crouches, coaxing the animal with sweet compliments and a stick of sugarcane she brought with her.
From Slate ● May 27, 2026
Entrepreneurs Karin Walter-Mommert and Walter Gunz later funded a private rescue, fitting the whale with a tracking device and coaxing it onto a water-filled transport ship called Fortuna B.
From BBC ● May 16, 2026
It was not about coaxing the maximum possible pleasure out of a cut of meat.
From Salon ● Apr. 10, 2026
Having helped push the American landscape forcibly into the future, he spent the rest of his life coaxing one corner of it back to its past.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 4, 2026
I had actually caught myself coaxing her to eat.
From "Kindred" by Octavia Butler
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
