MEANING
To obtain compliance or something desired through flattering, persistent, or ingratiating persuasion.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- wheedle someone into
- wheedle a favor out of
- a wheedling voice
On the page
He wheedled the address out of the porter with compliments about the garden.
She refused to be wheedled into a promise she could not keep.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- wheedle
- Past tense
- wheedled
- Past participle
- wheedled
- Present participle
- wheedling
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- wheedle
- Present continuous
- am/is/are wheedling
- Present perfect
- have/has wheedled
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been wheedling
- Past
- wheedled
- Past continuous
- was/were wheedling
- Past perfect
- had wheedled
- Past perfect continuous
- had been wheedling
- Future
- will wheedle
- Future continuous
- will be wheedling
- Future perfect
- will have wheedled
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been wheedling
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: literary. Forms: wheedle; wheedles; wheedled; wheedled; wheedling Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Third-person singular: wheedles.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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