blandishment

[blan-dish-muhnt]

noun

Often blandishments. something, as an action or speech, that tends to flatter, coax, entice, etc.: Our blandishments left him unmoved. We succumbed to the blandishments of tropical living.

Origin of blandishment

First recorded in 1585–95; blandish + -ment

Synonyms for blandishment

flattery, cajolery, wheedling, ingratiation, fawning, blarney.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for blandishments

enticement, adulation, praise, blarney, allurement, wheedling, coaxing, cajolery, sycophancy, fawning

Examples from the Web for blandishments

Contemporary Examples of blandishments

Big deal, you can almost hear Democrats collectively say, but these are the kinds of blandishments that get deals done.
The Tea Party’s Debt Triumph
Eleanor Clift
August 1, 2011

Historical Examples of blandishments

I should have a third, but she is surrounded by the blandishments of flattery and courtship.
The Letters of Robert Burns
Robert Burns
It is not too much to say that she had shown herself to be a creature of blandishments.
Ruggles of Red Gap
Harry Leon Wilson
Her uncle could no longer resist her blandishments; he raised his head and smiled at her.
Abbe Mouret's Transgression
Emile Zola
However, in spite of all Muche's blandishments, she still refused to leave the footway.
The Fat and the Thin
Emile Zola
Mr. Zachary Smith resisted the blandishments of “cut-throat” euchre.
The Hound From The North
Ridgwell Cullum

British Dictionary definitions for blandishments

blandishments

pl n

(rarely singular) flattery intended to coax or cajole

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for blandishments

blandishment

"flattering speech," 1590s, from blandish + -ment. Sense of "attraction, allurement" (often blandishments) is from 1590s.