Persuade
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: /pəˈsweɪd/
- Rhymes: -eɪd
Alternative forms
- perswade obsolete
Origin
From Latin persuÄdeÅ ("I persuade").
Full definition of persuade
Verb
- (transitive) To successfully convince (someone) to agree to, accept, or do something, usually through reasoning and verbal influence. Compare sway.That salesman was able to persuade me into buying this bottle of lotion.
- ShakespeareWe will persuade him, be it possible.
- 2011, November 10, Jeremy Wilson, tEngland Under 21 5 Iceland Under 21 0: match report, The most persistent tormentor was Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who scored a hat-trick in last month’s corresponding fixture in Iceland. His ability to run at defences is instantly striking, but it is his clever use of possession that has persuaded some shrewd judges that he is an even better prospect than Theo Walcott.
- (transitive, now rare, dialectal) To urge, plead; to try to convince (someone to do something).
- Bible, 2 Kings xviii. 32Hearken not unto Hezekiah, when he persuadeth you.
- 1834, David Crockett, A Narrative of the Life of, Nebraska 1987, p. 34:He persuaded me to go home, but I refused.
- (transitive, obsolete) To convince of by argument, or by reasons offered or suggested from reflection, etc.; to cause to believe.
- Bible, Hebrew vi. 9Beloved, we are persuaded better things of you.