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PERSUASION
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A personal belief or judgment that is not founded on proof or certainty
Example:
what are your thoughts on Haiti?
Synonyms:
opinion; persuasion; sentiment; thought; view
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Hypernyms ("persuasion" is a kind of...):
belief (any cognitive content held as true)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "persuasion"):
idea (a personal view)
judgement; judgment; mind (an opinion formed by judging something)
eyes (opinion or judgment)
parti pris; preconceived idea; preconceived notion; preconceived opinion; preconception; prepossession (an opinion formed beforehand without adequate evidence)
pole (one of two divergent or mutually exclusive opinions)
political sympathies; politics (the opinion you hold with respect to political questions)
Sense 2
Meaning:
The act of persuading (or attempting to persuade); communication intended to induce belief or action
Synonyms:
persuasion; suasion
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("persuasion" is a kind of...):
communicating; communication (the activity of communicating; the activity of conveying information)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "persuasion"):
line (persuasive but insincere talk that is usually intended to deceive or impress)
arm-twisting (persuasion by the use of direct personal pressure)
bell ringing; canvassing; electioneering (persuasion of voters in a political campaign)
exhortation; incitement (the act of exhorting; an earnest attempt at persuasion)
proselytism (the practice of proselytizing)
sloganeering (persuasion by means of empty slogans)
prompting; suggestion (persuasion formulated as a suggestion)
artillery; weapon (a means of persuading or arguing)
Antonym:
dissuasion (persuading not to do or believe something; talking someone out of a belief or an intended course of action)
Derivation:
persuade (cause somebody to adopt a certain position, belief, or course of action; twist somebody's arm)
Context examples:
My mother, however, had such confidence either in his good nature or in her own powers of persuasion, that she already began to make furtive preparations for my departure.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
A search was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our threats.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The addition of a P and a D completed a message which showed me that the rascal was proceeding from persuasion to threats, and my knowledge of the crooks of Chicago prepared me to find that he might very rapidly put his words into action.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Indeed, if I may make a full confession to you, I was quite convinced that the letter from Meiringen was a hoax, and I allowed you to depart on that errand under the persuasion that some development of this sort would follow.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
C'est pour vos peches—pour vos peches, they droned, looking at the travellers with sad lack-lustre eyes, and then bent to their bloody work once more without heed to the prayers and persuasions which were addressed to them.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I overcame the extreme reluctance of the natives—a reluctance which extends even to talk upon the subject—and by judicious persuasion and gifts, aided, I will admit, by some threats of coercion, I got two of them to act as guides.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Perhaps it was with the hope of narrowing it that she yielded to his persuasions to go to night school and business college and to have herself gowned by a wonderful dressmaker who charged outrageous prices.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
I feel a strong persuasion, this morning, that I shall soon be abroad.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
You have just been telling me how much you liked to be conquered, and how pleasant over-persuasion is to you.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
What a softener of the heart was this persuasion!
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
