sweet talk
noun
cajolery; soft soap.
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sweet talk
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sweet-talk
sweet-talkverb (used without object)to use cajoling words.
sweet talk
1 Americannoun
Informal.
sweet-talk
2
American
[sweet-tawk]
/ ˈswitˌtɔk /
verb (used without object)
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sweet-talks,
present (3rd person singular)
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sweet-talked,
past participle, past
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sweet-talking
present participle
verb (used with object)
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sweet-talks,
present (3rd person singular)
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sweet-talked,
past participle, past
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sweet-talking
present participle
sweet-talk
British
verb
noun
sweet talk
Idioms
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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sweet-talksimple
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sweet-talkssimple
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have sweet-talkedperfect
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has sweet-talkedperfect
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am sweet-talkingprogressive
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are sweet-talkingprogressive
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is sweet-talkingprogressive
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have been sweet-talkingperfect progressive
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has been sweet-talkingperfect progressive
Past
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sweet-talkedsimple
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had sweet-talkedperfect
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was sweet-talkingprogressive
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were sweet-talkingprogressive
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had been sweet-talkingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sweet talk1
First recorded in 1925–30
Origin of sweet-talk2
First recorded in 1925–30
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:
Really, what writer, no matter how detached from their past, could resist that kind of sweet talk?
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
We jump from screaming to sweet talk, and from current subplot to the far past to a few days ago.
From Salon ● Jan. 14, 2023
Realtor Liz Jones said some agents continue to encourage the practice, putting buyers in a tough position if they’d rather leave out the sweet talk.
From Seattle Times ● May 12, 2022
Eve is Villanelle’s type—it’s the hair—but perhaps it’s also a certain shared brusqueness, the way that Eve can’t flirt or sweet talk anyone she’s not actually interested in, even if it would be useful.
From Slate ● Apr. 10, 2018
“Dallas, don’t you go falling for sweet talk and trees and creeks. We’ve got to be ready to flee for the hills and catch that train, you hear?”
From "Ruby Holler" by Sharon Creech
Here, immigrants yell out their menus and sweet-talk potential customers as they stroll by.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 13, 2025
I sweet-talk the program aide into making me copies for my next group.
From Slate ● Dec. 14, 2023
He's been a constant presence to chivvy team-mates and sweet-talk officials.
From BBC ● Feb. 3, 2022
Years earlier, I’d had “the talk” with him: Don’t let a nice stranger sweet-talk you into a suite of proprietary, expensive, underperforming, actively managed mutual funds.
From New York Times ● Feb. 26, 2021
That little girl could sweet-talk anyone into doing anything.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
We witness McFadin as he smilingly interrogates—and intimidates—witnesses and plaintiffs, beguiles juries and sweet-talks judges, knocking down charges against Kenrex as if bowling strike after strike.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026
In one scene, a cop pulls over Jones and Murray, who sweet-talks him out of issuing a ticket.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 2, 2020
He exudes a quiet, shy aura, and rarely sweet-talks his clients.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 16, 2019
As the co-worker at the armored-car company who sweet-talks him into the robbery, Kristen Wiig seems game but barely engaged with her part.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 29, 2016
Pa says when someone sweet-talks you like this, you got to be real careful with the next words that come out of their mouth.
From "Elijah of Buxton" by Christopher Paul Curtis
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has sweet-talked her U.S. counterpart and accommodated his priorities from drugs to trade.
From Barron's ● Nov. 25, 2025
The president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner helped move the deal to conclusion while Mr. Trump cajoled, twisted arms and, when necessary, sweet-talked friends and foes alike.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2025
He kept Ali out of prison, got him a fight in Canada and sweet-talked a few other venues into staging Ali fights.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2025
The light got better as the race went on and I sweet-talked the boat driver into putting me in the right spot.
From BBC ● Dec. 29, 2024
Shackleton sweet-talked wealthy patrons, took public donations, and raised money as an advance based on future sales of film and photo rights.
From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong
She also notes that she spent the holidays sweet-talking patrons and donors with her Christmas cards.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 5, 2025
In the flurry of negotiations and sweet-talking by multiple teams that greeted him on the first frantic day of NFL free agency, Dre’Mont Jones was not expecting the Seahawks to be a factor.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 10, 2023
Don’t let some sweet-talking sales manager convince you otherwise.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2018
She led the campaign to raise $208 million to build a new one, donating $10 million herself and sweet-talking or strong-arming the balance through her deep connections to Northern California’s aristocrats.
From New York Times ● Sep. 24, 2016
Every thought I had ’bout rattling-snake words and sweet-talking and bites flewed away!
From "Elijah of Buxton" by Christopher Paul Curtis
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.
