convince
Americanverb (used with object)
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to move by argument or evidence to belief, agreement, consent, or a course of action.
Ample evidence convinced the jury of his guilt.
A test drive will convince you that this car handles well.
- Synonyms:
- satisfy
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to persuade; cajole.
We finally convinced them to have dinner with us.
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Obsolete. to prove or find guilty.
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Obsolete. to overcome; vanquish.
verb
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(may take a clause as object) to make (someone) agree, understand, or realize the truth or validity of something; persuade
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to persuade (someone) to do something
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obsolete
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to overcome
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to prove guilty
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Usage
Convince, an often stated rule says, may be followed only by that or of, never by to: We convinced him that he should enter (not convinced him to enter ) the contest. He was convinced of the wisdom of entering. In examples to support the rule, convince is often contrasted with persuade, which may take to, of, or that followed by the appropriate construction: We persuaded him to seek counseling (or of his need for counseling or that he should seek counseling ). The history of usage does not support the rule. Convince (someone) to has been in use since the 16th century and, despite objections by some, occurs freely today in all varieties of speech and writing and is fully standard: Members of the cabinet are trying to convince the prime minister not to resign.
The use of convince to talk about persuading someone to do something is considered by many British speakers to be wrong or unacceptable
Other Word Forms
- convincement noun
- convincer noun
- convincibility noun
- convincible adjective
- preconvince verb (used with object)
- reconvince verb (used with object)
- unconvincible adjective
Etymology
Origin of convince
First recorded in 1520–30; from Latin convincere “to prove (something) false or true, (somebody) right or wrong,” equivalent to con- con- + vincere “to overcome”; victor
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.
Criminologist Guy Lamb told the BBC he was not convinced the deployment would deliver lasting results, saying soldiers are "not designed to engage in policing" but rather to engage in combat and use maximum force.
From BBC
Speaking of “Gangs of New York,” Mr. Scorsese had to convince Daniel Day-Lewis to return to acting—he was, at the time, a cobbler’s apprentice in Florence.
Nike reported quarterly results that were a bit better than Wall Street’s expectations, but investors still didn’t appear convinced of the sneaker giant’s turnaround efforts.
"I tried to convince him to move back to Nepal, but he said he liked his job in Abu Dhabi, and that he had a good life," his uncle Ramesh told the BBC.
From BBC
Needham suggests Disney’s stock, trading at 13.7 times forward earnings, could double if it convinces Wall Street it is a media company.
From Barron's
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.
