coaxed

[kohkst]

adjective

1. influenced or persuaded to do something by gentle urging, smooth talk, flattery, etc..

   A coaxed cat will make itself comfortable in your lap for a while, but a forced one will flat out refuse.

2. obtained by gentle urging, sweet talk, flattery, etc..

   The hotel owner eventually offered us a coaxed apology after much back and forth about the lack of cleanliness.

verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of coax.

Other Word Forms

• uncoaxed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of coaxed¹

First recorded in 1825–35; coax ¹ ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. ) for the adjective senses; coax ¹ ( def. ) + -ed ¹ ( def. ) for the verb sense

Example Sentences

They coaxed performances from Indy using a painstaking process of setting up experiences for him to react to, whether it was strategically employing food or creating a noise that’s novel to Indy.

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"Until quite recently, I hadn't managed to throw off the memory of children who needed to be gently coaxed through their dialogue in a big scary film studio."

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He coaxed a devastatingly chilly turn from Mary Tyler Moore, drew quiet strength from Donald Sutherland and guided Timothy Hutton to an Oscar-winning breakthrough.

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And, of course, “Brown food tastes good” reminded you that color signals flavor, that the hiss and smell of fond in a pan promised richness waiting to be coaxed into a sauce.

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Within minutes, he’d coaxed it back to life, the coils glowing faintly, the faint metallic tang of dust burning off as he wiped away that unmistakable film of neglect.

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