sweetening up
Adding charm gradually
Sweetening up is making someone more agreeable or receptive, typically through flattery, favors, or charm before asking for something: He spent weeks sweetening up the board members before proposing his plan.
The phrase implies strategic niceness rather than genuine warmth—you sweeten someone up the way you might sweeten a deal.
- flatteryExcessive insincere praise
- mollificationAct of calming anger
- appeasementSatisfying demands to prevent conflict
- beautificationAct of enhancing appearance
- charmAttractive personal quality
sugar · softening · honey · buttering up · soft soap · smooth talking · persuasion · embellishment · ingratiation · kissing up · sucking up · brown nosing · making nice · diplomacy · coaxing · romanticizing · refinement · enhancement
sweetening upantagonizing
Deliberately causing hostility
alienating · turning off · offending · putting off · driving away
sweetening upintimidating
Inspiring fear or unease
threatening · browbeating · strong-arming · bullying · coercing
sweet, sweeten, sweetening, sweetened, sweetener, sweeteners, sweetly, sweetness, sweets