woo

[ woo ]

verb (used with object)

1. to seek the favor, affection, or love of, especially with a view to marriage.

   Synonyms: chase, pursue, court

2. to seek to win:

   to woo fame.

   Synonyms: cultivate

3. to invite (consequences, whether good or bad) by one's own action; court:

   to woo one's own destruction.

4. to seek to persuade (a person, group, etc.), as to do something; solicit; importune.

   Synonyms: entreat, address, sue, petition

verb (used without object)

1. to seek the affection or love of someone, usually a woman; court:

   He was reminded of his youth when he went wooing.

2. to solicit favor or approval; entreat:

   Further attempts to woo proved useless.

woo

/ wuː /

verb

1. to seek the affection, favour, or love of (a woman) with a view to marriage
2. tr to seek after zealously or hopefully

   to woo fame

3. tr to bring upon oneself (good or evil results) by one's own action
4. tr to beg or importune (someone)

Derived Forms

• ˈwooer, noun
• ˈwooing, noun

Other Words From

• wooer noun
• wooing·ly adverb
• un·wooed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of woo¹

First recorded before 1050; Middle English wowe, Old English wōgian; ultimate origin uncertain

Word History and Origins

Origin of woo¹

Old English wōgian, of obscure origin

Idioms and Phrases

see pitch woo .

Example Sentences

Loeffler is also likely to have trouble wooing voters outside of the GOP base because of the particular dynamics of her race.

From FiveThirtyEight

The effort to woo those few remaining customers, particularly when a company can’t compete on price, borders on the absurd, several analysts said.

From ProPublica

Several airlines including United have also done away with change fees in a bid to woo back wary travelers.

From Fortune

Oracle, the king of pre-cloud databases, is increasingly wooing its customers with cloud products while all three major cloud platforms—Amazon, Microsoft, and Google—also have their own cloud database services.

From Fortune

Instagram is not the only platform attempting to woo TikTok creators.

From Digiday

One Spinal Solutions sales representative said he suspected Williams was using perks to woo surgeons.

From The Daily Beast

Democrats set out to woo a national network of extremely wealthy donors who could support the new breakneck fundraising pace.

From The Daily Beast

At one point, John Woo was circling to direct it, but then the big divorce happened with Miramax and Disney, and it went away.

From The Daily Beast

Been dying to see that powerful sexual masochist woo and whip that mousy college student?

From The Daily Beast

David, the consummate suitor, naturally pulled out all the stops to woo his lady love.

From The Daily Beast

Who wants to peruse fictitious adventures, when railroads and steamboats woo him to adventures of his own?

From Project Gutenberg

She was quite wickedly indifferent to consequences, and was inspired to woo the fickle goddess of popularity.

From Project Gutenberg

It was in contrast to these officials that he painted the ideal times of Kings Wan and Woo.

From Project Gutenberg

Many suitors came from far to woo her, and brought presents innumerable of corn, skins, and cattle to lay at her feet.

From Project Gutenberg

My long lithe lily, my languid lily, My lank limp lily-love, how shall I win— Woo thee to wink at me?

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• cultivate
• pursue
• solicit