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.
-
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:
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
Characters with unfinished business inveigle themselves into his head, he said in a telephone interview.
From New York Times ● Jun. 1, 2016
And if the trailers are to be believed, this season sees her nemesis further inveigle his way into the US establishment by running for congress.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 13, 2012
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
When this ceremony is over, he inveigles all the birds into his power by telling them to shut their eyes.
From Algonquin Legends of New England by Charles Godfrey Leland
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
Guilfoyle also allegedly inveigled her with a private-plane trip to Rome, a cut of future speaking fees and a chance to report for the network.
From Salon ● Oct. 3, 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
The Sea of Flames could have been in the Paris Museum all along—that simpering mineralogist and the assistant director laughing as he slunk away, duped, fooled, inveigled.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
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
Dailies ran a story in which Mrs. Marcos accused Manotoc of inveigling Imee into marriage and describing her daughter as having "the mind of a 40-year-old but the heart of a ten-year-old."
From Time Magazine Archive
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
How evident it was that Annas was only intent on inveigling his prisoner to say something on which to base his after-accusation.
From Love to the Uttermost Expositions of John XIII.-XXI. by F. B. (Frederick Brotherton) Meyer
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.
