wheedle
verb (used with object)
to endeavor to influence (a person) by smooth, flattering, or beguiling words or acts.
wheedling
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present participleof wheedle.present participle
A verb form that is used in progressive verb constructions and may also function as a modifier or a gerund.
-
a word derived from
wheedle.
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.
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
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
When your landline and cell phone were free from scam artists selling something, threatening you with arrest, wheedling to extract a credit-card number?
From Washington Times ● Sep. 4, 2019
Their wheedling offhand questions did not deceive Francie.
From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
