wheedle
verb (used with object)
to endeavor to influence (a person) by smooth, flattering, or beguiling words or acts.
wheedled
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past participleof wheedle.past participle
A verb form used in perfect and passive verb constructions and that can also function as a modifier.
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past tense formof wheedle.past tense
Used to describe completed actions or previous habitual actions.
wheedleverb (used with object)to endeavor to influence (a person) by smooth, flattering, or beguiling words or acts.
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.
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
In 1855, Davis wheedled about $20,000 out of Congress, enough for a trip to the Mideast to buy 30-some camels and dromedaries and hire “cameleers.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2021
It’s a fascinating vignette, but we never learn her real name, or what happened to her, or how she wheedled those secrets from Nazi submariners, or how useful her intel proved to Alliance and MI6.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 5, 2019
Through frequent phone calls and golf games, Shinzo Abe had supposedly wheedled his way into one of the closest relationships with Trump of any world leader.
From Slate ● Sep. 18, 2018
The Americans were wheedled and teased over to those three stacks, which weren’t hay after all.
From "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut
