convince

American  

[kuhn-vins] / kənˈvɪns /

verb (used with object)

• convinces,
  present (3rd person singular)
• convinced,
  past participle,  past
• convincing
  present participle

1. 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

2. to persuade; cajole.

   We finally convinced them to have dinner with us.

3. Obsolete. to prove or find guilty.

4. Obsolete. to overcome; vanquish.

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convince British  

/ kənˈvɪns /

verb

1. (may take a clause as object) to make (someone) agree, understand, or realize the truth or validity of something; persuade

2. to persuade (someone) to do something

3. obsolete

   1. to overcome

   2. 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

Derived Forms

• convincement
  noun
• convincer
  noun
• convincibility
  noun
• preconvince
  verb (used with object)
• reconvince
  verb (used with object)
• convincible
  adjective
• unconvincible
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• convincing
  present
• convinced
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• convince
  simple
• convinces
  simple
• have convinced
  perfect
• has convinced
  perfect
• am convincing
  progressive
• are convincing
  progressive
• is convincing
  progressive
• have been convincing
  perfect progressive
• has been convincing
  perfect progressive

Past

• convinced
  simple
• had convinced
  perfect
• was convincing
  progressive
• were convincing
  progressive
• had been convincing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will convince
  simple
• will have convinced
  perfect
• will be convincing
  progressive
• will have been convincing
  perfect progressive

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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”; see victor

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Explanation

"How again was it that you convinced me to do this?" the boy said to his friend before they jumped out of the plane on their first sky dive. Convince means to talk someone into something, or win someone over. A person convinces by making an argument—you can convince your parents to let you go to the movies by promising you'll do all your homework the next day. A thing can convince as well. The cash prize convinced me to enter the contest. The threat of failure convinced the kids to study.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

convince convinces convinced convincing

They urged her to convince Stupnikov, if he was alive, to give himself up.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

But does behaving like a human actually convince people that a machine has consciousness?

From Science Daily ● Oct. 14, 2026

Hull KR's Lewis, who endured an inconsistent year, did enough to convince England head coach Brian McDermott that he should join captain Williams, the Warrington stand-off, and Wigan's Smith as half-back options.

From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026

Madison, 15 years the junior of the real Frances, is too young to convince us that her character truly believes she can turn Facebook into a digital utopia.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026

No matter how many times Molly tried to convince Clara that it was possible to create content without exposing all their secrets, she couldn’t get her sister to budge.

From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny

Once the victim is hooked, the scammer finally convinces victims to open an account on the “investment platform.”

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 14, 2026

The US will has a way to go before it convinces economists, investors, and the nations trading with Iran that its sanctions threat is to be taken seriously.

From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026

The sort of meal that costs very little but somehow convinces you otherwise.

From Salon ● Jun. 16, 2026

After Stagg convinces the leaders to postpone D-day, he is vindicated by a deluge of rain that arrives while everyone is attending church at Southwark House on June 5.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2026

“I’ll be fine,” I tell her in a voice that barely convinces me, let alone Helen.

From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse

Crawzilla is the creature's actual common name, and Bloomer was convinced she had captured the largest crayfish ever documented.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026

He added that he remained convinced members of British special forces should have been criminally charged.

From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026

But Sweetgreen executives remain convinced that menu changes will help bring in more diners.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

She thinks we have enough, and I’m not convinced.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026

But it’s not like Mom could have convinced Brie to take a random beach trip, I don’t think.

From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison

Less convincing, however, is the notion that he was singularly prophetic in this arena.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

The findings also highlight why the language used to discuss artificial intelligence matters, particularly as AI systems become increasingly capable of producing convincing human behavior.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 14, 2026

Moore reminds us why we lie awake at night, convincing ourselves there might be more to life.

From Salon ● Oct. 12, 2026

They said: "Scammers can easily create convincing false profiles, which are built to use trusted relationships to manipulate people into sending money, bank details or vouchers."

From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026

Before I could come up with a convincing excuse to avoid death by indigestion, a hand fell on my lower back.

From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros

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