wheedle
Americanverb (used with object)
-
wheedles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
wheedled,
past participle, past
-
wheedling
present participle
-
to endeavor to influence (a person) by smooth, flattering, or beguiling words or acts.
We wheedled him incessantly, but he would not consent.
-
to persuade (a person) by such words or acts.
She wheedled him into going with her.
-
to obtain (something) by artful persuasions.
I wheedled a new car out of my father.
verb (used without object)
-
wheedles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
wheedled,
past participle, past
-
wheedling
present participle
verb
-
to persuade or try to persuade (someone) by coaxing words, flattery, etc
-
(tr) to obtain by coaxing and flattery
she wheedled some money out of her father
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
wheedlesimple
-
wheedlessimple
-
have wheedledperfect
-
has wheedledperfect
-
am wheedlingprogressive
-
are wheedlingprogressive
-
is wheedlingprogressive
-
have been wheedlingperfect progressive
-
has been wheedlingperfect progressive
Past
-
wheedledsimple
-
had wheedledperfect
-
was wheedlingprogressive
-
were wheedlingprogressive
-
had been wheedlingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of wheedle
First recorded in 1655–65; origin uncertain
Explanation
To wheedle is to sweet talk, or flatter someone in the hopes of getting something in return. You might try to wheedle a meter maid into not giving you a parking ticket. Good luck with that. If you want your parents to do something for you that they don’t want to do, you may have to wheedle them with breakfast in bed and a shower of compliments in order to get what you want. To wheedle someone is to “charm” that person, though it’s a little more on the “suck up to” side than it is charming. The teacher’s pet might try to wheedle her way into a better grade.
Vocabulary lists containing wheedle
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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:
That should shut down whoever is trying to wheedle you into gimmicky strategies, or chasing the returns of recently hot assets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026
The arsonists wheedle their way into his house with a combination of servile pleading, subtle bullying and appeals to Biedermann’s moral vanity.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 14, 2022
To do so, he said, “I’ve had to shove, push, cajole, persuade, wheedle, exaggerate, manipulate, flatter, be obnoxious, occasionally lie, and always sell.”
From Washington Post ● Nov. 21, 2022
Over three gripping seasons, HBO’s “Succession” has followed ruthless members of the Roy family as they wheedle and extort their way to a place atop the media empire they feel entitled to.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 17, 2021
He, Harry, had had too much experience of trying to wheedle information out of reluctant people not to recognize a master at work.
From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling
The man, 56-year-old Wu Zhiqing, complains about the quality of the mushrooms; she wheedles back in response.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026
“Because of your big career that’s so much bigger than mine?” wheedles her petulant husband.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 20, 2022
“At least we tried to make a movie. They can’t judge us for that,” wheedles director Darren at the end of the film, incorrectly.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 2, 2022
He jokes and wheedles and begs and tells stories and pledges his troth.
From The New Yorker ● Jun. 3, 2019
But once in a while, Prim wheedles one out of me.
From "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins
His father, less a bully but now a user, had wheedled his way onto the set of “Rocky” and embarrassed him.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
Ask any nerd who wheedled her parents for a little more cash to buy books: What you get from Scholastic is what your parents are willing to buy you.
From Salon ● Oct. 23, 2023
Equipped with two $4,000 trackers — which he’d wheedled a company into donating — Clerkin went out with a fishing captain who said he’d seen megamouths roaming.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 11, 2021
A Los Angeles Times columnist supposedly wheedled the songwriters who wrote “Que Sera, Sera” and the “Bonanza” theme into composing it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2021
“I know everything, you see,” the old voice wheedled.
From "Grendel" by John Gardner
Scientists had not yet discovered vitamins, so families did not fret about dietary “balance,” and there seems to have been little or none of the parental wheedling common today.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 20, 2026
“Part Two” shows Durst wheedling his friends to do his bidding from behind bars and expecting nothing less than absolute allegiance.
From Salon ● Apr. 21, 2024
Hunter Biden is such a stingy, wheedling, dishonest, self-serving dirtbag that even after the court-ordered paternity test proved the child was his, he refuses to acknowledge his own biological daughter.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 27, 2023
And certainly Marvel’s vocal characterization of the deteriorating Mary — lilting then wheedling then ratlike then hollow — is one you will not soon get out of your head.
From New York Times ● Jan. 25, 2022
After ten minutes of wheedling she’d roused Hugh, Fiona, and Horace from their naps and challenged Bronwyn, who apparently could not forgo a competition of any kind, to a swimming race.
From "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" by Ransom Riggs
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