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
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
Finally, bravo to Seattle Opera’s indispensable Jonathan Dean, who translates and writes the supertitles projected above the stage, for having one of the wheedling stepsisters calling her prey “Princykins.”
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 21, 2019
His wheedling and complaining follow me until I’m out of earshot.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
