persuade
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
-
to induce, urge, or prevail upon successfully
he finally persuaded them to buy it
-
to cause to believe; convince
even with the evidence, the police were not persuaded
Usage
See convince.
Related Words
Persuade, induce imply influencing someone's thoughts or actions. They are used today mainly in the sense of winning over a person to a certain course of action: It was I who persuaded him to call a doctor. I induced him to do it. They differ in that persuade suggests appealing more to the reason and understanding: I persuaded him to go back to his wife (although it is often lightly used: Can't I persuade you to stay to supper? ); induce emphasizes only the idea of successful influence, whether achieved by argument or by promise of reward: What can I say that will induce you to stay at your job? Owing to this idea of compensation, induce may be used in reference to the influence of factors as well as of persons: The prospect of a raise in salary was what induced him to stay.
Other Word Forms
- nonpersuadable adjective
- persuadability noun
- persuadable adjective
- persuadableness noun
- persuadably adverb
- persuader noun
- persuadingly adverb
- prepersuade verb (used with object)
- unpersuadable adjective
- unpersuadably adverb
- unpersuaded adjective
- well-persuaded adjective
Etymology
Origin of persuade
From the Latin word persuādēre, dating back to 1505–15. See per-, dissuade, suasion
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.
Tesler, who had all but given up on persuading Xerox to commercialize PARC’s output, saw no reason not to show Apple everything they had.
From Los Angeles Times
He said he would want to see politicians vying for votes at the Senedd election to show how they would "persuade these students that teaching is the career for them".
From BBC
One of her sons living abroad persuaded her to leave to wait out the war.
The goal was to persuade inspectors, including one from the U.S.
Rather, much would depend on the party's ability to persuade them of its merits.
From BBC
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.
