wheedle

American  

[hweed-l, weed-l] / ˈʰwid l, ˈwid l /

verb (used with object)

• wheedles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• wheedled,
  past participle,  past
• wheedling
  present participle

1. to endeavor to influence (a person) by smooth, flattering, or beguiling words or acts.

   We wheedled him incessantly, but he would not consent.

   Synonyms:

   coax, cajole, flatter

2. to persuade (a person) by such words or acts.

   She wheedled him into going with her.

3. to obtain (something) by artful persuasions.

   I wheedled a new car out of my father.

   Synonyms:

   inveigle, beguile

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verb (used without object)

• wheedles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• wheedled,
  past participle,  past
• wheedling
  present participle

1. to use beguiling or artful persuasions.

   I always wheedle if I really need something.

wheedle British  

/ ˈwiːdəl /

verb

1. to persuade or try to persuade (someone) by coaxing words, flattery, etc

2. (tr) to obtain by coaxing and flattery

   she wheedled some money out of her father

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• wheedler
  noun
• unwheedled
  adjective
• wheedling
  adjective
• wheedlingly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Participles

• wheedling
  present
• wheedled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• wheedle
  simple
• wheedles
  simple
• have wheedled
  perfect
• has wheedled
  perfect
• am wheedling
  progressive
• are wheedling
  progressive
• is wheedling
  progressive
• have been wheedling
  perfect progressive
• has been wheedling
  perfect progressive

Past

• wheedled
  simple
• had wheedled
  perfect
• was wheedling
  progressive
• were wheedling
  progressive
• had been wheedling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will wheedle
  simple
• will have wheedled
  perfect
• will be wheedling
  progressive
• will have been wheedling
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of wheedle

First recorded in 1655–65; origin uncertain

Explanation

To wheedle is to sweet talk, or flatter someone in the hopes of getting something in return. You might try to wheedle a meter maid into not giving you a parking ticket. Good luck with that. If you want your parents to do something for you that they don’t want to do, you may have to wheedle them with breakfast in bed and a shower of compliments in order to get what you want. To wheedle someone is to “charm” that person, though it’s a little more on the “suck up to” side than it is charming. The teacher’s pet might try to wheedle her way into a better grade.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

wheedle wheedles wheedled wheedling

That should shut down whoever is trying to wheedle you into gimmicky strategies, or chasing the returns of recently hot assets.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026

The arsonists wheedle their way into his house with a combination of servile pleading, subtle bullying and appeals to Biedermann’s moral vanity.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 14, 2022

To do so, he said, “I’ve had to shove, push, cajole, persuade, wheedle, exaggerate, manipulate, flatter, be obnoxious, occasionally lie, and always sell.”

From Washington Post ● Nov. 21, 2022

The more other people sit stone-faced, the more I turn into a clown, trying to wheedle just little bit of encouraging energy back from them.

From Slate ● Feb. 26, 2022

Already he’d borrowed heavily to redo their house, to buy into the west side subdivision and golf course, and to wheedle a position on the proposed ski valley’s board of directors.

From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols

The man, 56-year-old Wu Zhiqing, complains about the quality of the mushrooms; she wheedles back in response.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026

For one thing, “very” is a fraud, masquerading as a strengthener when it merely wheedles and pleads.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 12, 2022

“At least we tried to make a movie. They can’t judge us for that,” wheedles director Darren at the end of the film, incorrectly.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 2, 2022

THE young woman with the microphone cajoles, hectors and wheedles customers with the breathless enthusiasm of a livestock auctioneer at a county fair.

From Economist ● Jul. 18, 2017

But once in a while, Prim wheedles one out of me.

From "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins

His father, less a bully but now a user, had wheedled his way onto the set of “Rocky” and embarrassed him.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

Then, at his busiest, with a wife and three children impatiently waiting at home, he wheedled Mel Brooks for a cameo in “Young Frankenstein.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 28, 2025

Ask any nerd who wheedled her parents for a little more cash to buy books: What you get from Scholastic is what your parents are willing to buy you.

From Salon ● Oct. 23, 2023

At 16, he wheedled his way onto the staff of a local newspaper.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 21, 2018

So Nok's mother wheedled and cut deals with her society friends, and by a sheer miracle, she landed Nok's father an even better gig: Chief Law Commissioner.

From "A Wish in the Dark" by Christina Soontornvat

Scientists had not yet discovered vitamins, so families did not fret about dietary “balance,” and there seems to have been little or none of the parental wheedling common today.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 20, 2026

“Part Two” shows Durst wheedling his friends to do his bidding from behind bars and expecting nothing less than absolute allegiance.

From Salon ● Apr. 21, 2024

Hunter Biden is such a stingy, wheedling, dishonest, self-serving dirtbag that even after the court-ordered paternity test proved the child was his, he refuses to acknowledge his own biological daughter.

From Washington Times ● Apr. 27, 2023

So she enlisted Yala, at the time still an undergrad, who set out on the laborious door-to-door task of wheedling for access to anonymous mammograms.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 21, 2021

His wheedling and complaining follow me until I’m out of earshot.

From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen

Related Words

• cajole
• finagle