wheedling
Pleading with flattery
Wheedling is coaxing or persuading through flattery, charm, or persistent pleading—usually to get something the other person is reluctant to give.
The word carries a note of insincerity: She wheedled her way into the exclusive party.
A wheedling tone suggests someone being manipulatively sweet: His wheedling voice made her suspicious.
Excessive insincere flattery
- flatteringExcessively praising, often insincerely
- obsequiousServilely attentive to superiors
- sycophanticServilely flattering
- toadyingObsequious behavior seeking favor
bootlicking · brownnosing · apple-polishing · groveling · servile · slavish · deferential · complaisant
Persuade through flattery
- cajolingPersuading through flattery
- sweet-talkFlatter to persuade
- sweet-talkingPersuading through flattery
- soft-soapPersuade through flattery
blarney · smooth-talk · smooth-talking · persuade · persuading · convince · convincing · entice
Sounding sad, sorrowful
- simperingSmiling affectedly, falsely coy
- cloyingExcessively sweet or sentimental
- saccharineExaggeratedly sentimental
- syrupyExcessively sweet or sentimental
honeyed · treacly · sugary · singsong · beseeching · imploring · cooing · purring
Sly, scheming cleverness
- schemingCrafty and calculating
- calculatingColdly self-serving in strategy
- connivingSecretly planning wrongdoing
- craftyCleverly deceptive
insidious · underhanded · sly · artful · guileful · disingenuous · duplicitous · devious
fawning
Excessive insincere flattery
- flatteringExcessively praising, often insincerely
- obsequiousServilely attentive to superiors
- sycophanticServilely flattering
toadying · bootlicking · brownnosing · apple-polishing · groveling · servile · slavish · deferential · complaisant · adulatory
cajole
Persuade through flattery
- cajolingPersuading through flattery
- sweet-talkFlatter to persuade
- sweet-talkingPersuading through flattery
soft-soap · blarney · smooth-talk · smooth-talking · persuade · persuading · convince · convincing · entice · enticing
plaintive
Sounding sad, sorrowful
- simperingSmiling affectedly, falsely coy
- cloyingExcessively sweet or sentimental
- saccharineExaggeratedly sentimental
syrupy · honeyed · treacly · sugary · singsong · beseeching · imploring · cooing · purring · whining
cunning
Sly, scheming cleverness
- schemingCrafty and calculating
- calculatingColdly self-serving in strategy
- connivingSecretly planning wrongdoing
crafty · insidious · underhanded · sly · artful · guileful · disingenuous · duplicitous · devious · wily
- enticementsenticement, inducement, lure, allure, temptation
- flatteryflatter, praise, flattery, compliment, compliments
- persuadingpersuading, convincing, urging, influencing, swaying
- persuasionpersuade, persuasion, persuasive, convince, convincing
- persuasion tacticscharm, butter up, flattery, flatter, coax
- speechspeech, speaking, talk, diction, conversation
wheedlingdemanding
Requiring great effort
commanding · ordering · dictating · bullying · threatening
wheedlingproud
Satisfied by accomplishment
dignified · assertive · imperious · authoritative · domineering