persuade

Alternative forms

• perswade (obsolete)

Etymology

From Latin persuādeō (“I persuade”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /pəˈsweɪd/
• (US) IPA^(key): /pɚˈsweɪd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪd

Verb

persuade (third-person singular simple present persuades, present participle persuading, simple past and past participle persuaded)

1. (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.

   • 1577, Socrates Scholasticus [i.e., Socrates of Constantinople], “Constantinus the Emperour Summoneth the Nicene Councell, it was Held at Nicæa a Citie of Bythnia for the Debatinge of the Controuersie about the Feast of Easter, and the Rootinge out of the Heresie of Arius”, in Eusebius Pamphilus; Socrates Scholasticus; Evagrius Scholasticus; Dorotheus; Meredith Hanmer, transl., The Avncient Ecclesiasticall Histories of the First Six Hundred Yeares after Christ, Wrytten in the Greeke Tongue by Three Learned Historiographers, Eusebius, Socrates, and Euagrius. [...], book I (The First Booke of the Ecclesiasticall Historye of Socrates Scholasticvs), imprinted at London: By Thomas Vautroullier dwelling in the Blackefriers by Ludgate, OCLC 55193813, page 225:

     [VV]e are able with playne demonſtration to proue, and vvith reaſon to perſvvade that in tymes paſt our fayth vvas alike, that then vve preached thinges correſpondent vnto the forme of faith already published of vs, ſo that none in this behalfe can repyne or gaynesay vs.

   • William Shakespeare (c.1564–1616)

     We will persuade him, be it possible.

   • 1909, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter I, in The Squire’s Daughter, London: Methuen, OCLC 12026604; republished New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1919, OCLC 491297620:

     The boy became volubly friendly and bubbling over with unexpected humour and high spirits. He tried to persuade Cicely to stay away from the ball-room for a fourth dance. Nobody would miss them, he explained.

   • 2011 November 10, Jeremy Wilson, “England Under 21 5 Iceland Under 21 0: match report”, in Telegraph:

     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.

2. (transitive, now rare, dialectal) To urge, plead; to try to convince (someone to do something).
   • Bible, 2 Kings xviii. 32

     Hearken 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.

3. (transitive, obsolete) To convince of by argument, or by reasons offered or suggested from reflection, etc.; to cause to believe.
   • Bible, Hebrews vi. 9

     Beloved, we are persuaded better things of you.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɛʁ.sɥad/

Verb

persuade

1. first-person singular present indicative of persuader
2. third-person singular present indicative of persuader
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of persuader
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of persuader
5. second-person singular imperative of persuader

Verb

persuade

1. third-person singular indicative present of persuadere

Verb

persuādē

1. second-person singular present active imperative of persuādeō

Verb

persuade

1. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present indicative of persuadir
2. second-person singular (tu, sometimes used with você) affirmative imperative of persuadir

Verb

persuade

1. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present indicative form of persuadir.
2. Informal second-person singular (tú) affirmative imperative form of persuadir.