inveigle
Americanverb (used with object)
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inveigles,
present (3rd person singular)
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inveigled,
past participle, past
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inveigling
present participle
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to entice, lure, or ensnare by flattery or artful talk or inducements (usually followed byinto ).
to inveigle a person into playing bridge.
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to acquire, win, or obtain by beguiling talk or methods (usually followed by from oraway ).
to inveigle a theater pass from a person.
- Synonyms:
- wheedle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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inveiglesimple
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inveiglessimple
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have inveigledperfect
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has inveigledperfect
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am inveiglingprogressive
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are inveiglingprogressive
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is inveiglingprogressive
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have been inveiglingperfect progressive
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has been inveiglingperfect progressive
Past
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inveigledsimple
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had inveigledperfect
-
was inveiglingprogressive
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were inveiglingprogressive
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had been inveiglingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of inveigle
1485–95; variant of envegle < Anglo-French enveogler, equivalent to en- en- 1 + Old French ( a ) vogler to blind, derivative of avogle blind < Vulgar Latin *aboculus eyeless, adj. derivative of phrase *ab oculīs without eyes. See ab-, ocular
Explanation
When you tell your boyfriend he’s not just the best boyfriend ever but also the world's best driver, and this makes him offer to drive the whole way on your upcoming road trip, then congratulations. You know how to inveigle, or use charm to coax someone into doing something. If you successfully inveigle your sister to doing something for you, she must be so caught up in your flattering that she is blind to your true intention. In fact, inveigle comes from the Middle French word aveugler, meaning “delude, make blind,” which can be traced back to the Medieval Latin word ab oculis, or “lacking eyes.” The people you inveigle don't see what you are really up to.
Vocabulary lists containing inveigle
A Separate Peace
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"The Odyssey" by Homer, Books 14–18
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Great Expectations
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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:
All of those thinly veiled efforts to inveigle an answer are met with a stock response.
From New York Times ● Nov. 26, 2021
There really was an Abigail; she really did inveigle herself into the Queen’s esteem; and the Duchess of Marlborough really was incensed.
From The New Yorker ● Nov. 16, 2018
Elsewhere, Shelley's got a bee in her bonnet, and Janine attempts to inveigle herself among the la-di-da of Croydon.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 21, 2013
A report this week by McAfee, a computer-security company, reveals the results of a five-year probe called Operation Shady RAT, examining attacks that use “Remote Access Tools” to inveigle access to computer networks.
From Economist ● Aug. 3, 2011
Naturally Finny was going to be the first to try, and just as naturally he was going to inveigle others, us, into trying it with him.
From "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles
How, for instance, he inveigles a red-headed young woman – “as exotic as a tropical fish” – to pose for his camera, exposing her freckled arms.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 7, 2018
Too broke to afford a hotel, Ricki inveigles her way into a guest room at the swanky McMansion Pete shares with his second wife, who’s away at the moment caring for her own ailing father.
From Slate ● Aug. 6, 2015
Once inside the body, it interferes with the propagation of signals through the central nervous system, and it inveigles its way into enzymes, disrupting their role in processing the nutritious elements zinc, iron and calcium.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2014
As he slowly inveigles himself into their lives, a sinister tone is set as he manipulates husband against wife, wife against nanny, and nanny against boyfriend.
From BBC ● May 19, 2013
The beggar does not call it unhappy when he inveigles away a rich heiress.
From Trevethlan (Vol 3 of 3) A Cornish Story. by William Davy Watson
What happened over the next four decades is a chilling tale of deception in which a man pretended to be the missing son of the landlord and inveigled himself into his house.
From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2022
Just as you've bribed, bought, and inveigled your way out of scandals and bankruptcies, so you'll believe you can bluster and wriggle your way out of this moment, too.
From Salon ● Oct. 25, 2020
A Miss Hungary finalist at 15, she was still a teenager when she inveigled a Turkish diplomat to the altar.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 19, 2019
More common was the enraged accusation that deceitful Northerners colluded with “slave stealers” and inveigled slaves to flee.
From New York Times ● Nov. 21, 2018
However, that was a distraction; Lyra was still intent on playing Gobblers, and she inveigled Roger down into the wine cellars, which they entered by means of the Butler’s spare set of keys.
From "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman
The tests were designed to find out which visual and verbal elements on the site were most conducive to inveigling users into making donations.
From Slate ● Feb. 10, 2017
The shallow write-ups and inveigling headlines are insulting, and possibly injurious.
From Slate ● Oct. 27, 2014
Once, when a lonely, 51-year-old bachelor crippled with arthritis sued a dance studio for inveigling him into paying for 1,000 hours of lessons, Karafin wrote an incisive story about the case.
From Time Magazine Archive
They were accused of inveigling State funds into their banks far beyond the legal limit and then using these public deposits for large private borrowings for the use of Caldwell & Co. and its subsidiaries.
From Time Magazine Archive
And old Batchgrew went on talking and inveigling until Rachel was ready to believe that the device of debentures had been originally invented by Thomas Batchgrew himself with felonious intent.
From The Price of Love by Arnold Bennett
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.
