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
It’s a central theme in my book to help clarify that no amount of sweet talk can replace the inevitable loss, the inherent loss, that is adoption.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 25, 2023
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
Well, I know how to sweet talk a Taurus.
From Slate ● Dec. 29, 2020
This was followed by a lot of sweet talk, which luckily Mother didn’t fall for this time.
From "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank
His adolescence at times could be a point of contention with club owners, who were reluctant to allow underage musicians in their venue; Hawkins had to sweet-talk the proprietors.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2023
But this thing is far from over, and we’re curious about some of the sweet-talk McCarthy may have used to jam this through.
From Slate ● Apr. 29, 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
“You’re going to have to do more than sweet-talk a fish,” Jinx said, emerging from the bushes.
From "Moon Over Manifest" by Clare Vanderpool
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
Betty-Ann Fry, who has lived at Foss since 2020, lets Meryl put her feet on her lap and sweet-talks the dog with names like “baby girl” and “my princess.”
From Seattle Times ● May 4, 2024
And finally, finally, he sweet-talks Cindy McCain into letting him onto the bus.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2021
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
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
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
She sweet-talked her way to the front of the airport security line when she was late for a flight.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 31, 2023
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
This form of hacking through social engineering is even older than computers themselves - just ask infamous former hacker Kevin Mitnick, who was sweet-talking his way around telephone networks back in the 70s.
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2022
Don’t let some sweet-talking sales manager convince you otherwise.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2018
He says the sweet-talking is like a rattling-snake’s rattles, it’s like you’re getting a warning that you’re ’bout to get bit.
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.
