Meaning of persuade in English

persuade

/pəˈsweɪd/ us

/pɚˈsweɪd/

to make someone do or believe something by giving them a good reason to do it or by talking to that person and making them believe it:

If she doesn't want to go, nothing you can say will persuade her.

[ + (that) ] It's no use trying to persuade him (that) you're innocent.

[ + to infinitive ] He is trying to persuade local and foreign businesses to invest in the project.

Using a bunch of bananas, the zoo-keeper persuaded the monkey back into its cage.

formal The first priority is to persuade the management of the urgency of this matter.

Her legal advisers persuaded her into/out of mentioning (= to mention/not to mention) the names of the people involved in the robbery.

Synonym

talk someone into something

Opposites

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Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

to persuade someone to do something

persuadeIf she doesn't want to do it, nothing you say will persuade her.
convinceThe lawyer convinced the jury of the man's innocence.
talk someone intoShe managed to talk me into going along.
talk someone out ofI think I've talked him out of leaving the country.
dissuadeI tried to dissuade her from leaving.
cajoleHe really knows how to cajole people into doing what he wants.

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More examplesFewer examples

Clever salesmanship can persuade you to buy things you don't really want.
We only need one more player for this game - can you persuade your sister to join in?
I have a suspicion that he only asked me out because my brother persuaded him to.
Johnson was influential in persuading the producers to put money into the film.
She used her womanly charms to persuade him to change his mind.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Urging & persuading

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(Definition of persuade from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

persuade | American Dictionary

persuade

verb [ T ]

/pərˈsweɪd/

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to cause people to do or believe something, esp. by explaining why they should:

The government is trying to persuade consumers to save more.

She tried to persuade them that they should leave.

persuasive

adjective us

/pərˈsweɪ·sɪv, -zɪv/

a persuasive argument

(Definition of persuade from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of persuade

persuade

If this is true, good government performance does not persuade people that the ideology of the government is more valuable and effective than they thought.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Their study showed that framing issues can activate existing beliefs and cognitions without appearing overtly to persuade.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

An architecture without rhetoric is evidently an architecture that does not set out to persuade, yet somehow convinces.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The issue now was not just citizen competence, but persuading citizens of the viability of democracy in a time of crisis.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

He seemed to think he was persuading me about monetary union.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

It was not only husbands who persuaded women to return.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The new political landscape has created new confining conditions, which may persuade the opposition to re-engage in the process of democratic consolidation.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Moreover, though some motives are mutually reinforcing, others are contradictory: treating discussion as an opportunity for persuading others, for example, can conflict with educating oneself.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Neither side, however, was able to persuade the other.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Norm entrepreneurs have to persuade, to make something considered natural or appropriate be seen as wrong.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

They need listeners who know how to listen, to understand, and appreciate their efforts to persuade.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

It also uniquely examines the role that allotment payments played in persuading farmers to invest in tractors and combined harvester-thresher ownership.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

A particularly demanding patient can often persuade professionals, especially busy general practitioners and consultants that they need care.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Advocates of retrenchment must persuade affected officials to transcend their special interests for the good of common goals.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In order to persuade, a representation had also to respond to the expectations, fears, and desires of subjects.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

What is the pronunciation of persuade?

Translations of persuade

in Chinese (Traditional)

勸服, 說服…

Meaning of persuade in English

persuade | American Dictionary

persuasive

Examples of persuade

Translations of persuade

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