How to Use wheedle in a Sentence
wheedle
verb- He wheedled quite a bit of money from her.
- She pleaded and wheedled, but I wouldn't be swayed.
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But Kirpal would wheedle the staff, charm Mrs. Tan, tease the aides.
—Rachel Heng, The New Yorker, 31 May 2021
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Sources refuse to go on the record, doors are slammed in reporters’ faces, shifty lawyers wheedle.
—Peter Rainer, The Christian Science Monitor, 17 Nov. 2022
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Jordan begged and wheedled and cajoled to get his grandmother to part with the recipe.
—Providence Cicero, The Seattle Times, 22 June 2017
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These are the result of ancient viruses that wheedled their way into our DNA, stayed there, and copied themselves again and again.
—Ed Yong, The Atlantic, 10 May 2017
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In the final scenes, when Lucia and Mia wheedle their way into his suite for a threesome, Dom can’t hold onto his guilty conscience.
—Chron, 6 Nov. 2022
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Another is about a very loud teenage neighbor in the West Village who wheedles his way into her psyche.
—Sophie Haigney, San Francisco Chronicle, 4 May 2018
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Mr. Trump can use the megaphone of social media without having to wheedle gossip writers first.
—Michael M. Grynbaum, New York Times, 11 Apr. 2016
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Leibovich is, more subtly, a brilliant interviewer able to wheedle not-quite-admissions from his subjects, who give him all the access in the world.
—Joe Klein, Washington Post, 8 July 2022
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Still, when the weather starts to feel more summery — however punishing that summer might be — burger cravings always seem to wheedle their way out of the woodwork.
—Dominic Armato, azcentral, 28 May 2020
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McCulloch: You’ve been nudged, cajoled, wheedled and implored.
—Scott Travis, Sun-Sentinel.com, 8 Feb. 2018
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But when Rose-Lynn opens her mouth to sing–her speaking voice has a Glaswegian burr, but her singing voice is all Tennessee–you’re wheedled into forgetting her flaws and sins and wanting only the best for her and her kids.
—Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 20 June 2019
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Was there a certain competitive spirit in getting really good at reading the script and wheedling money out of people?
—Daniel D'addario, Variety, 11 Aug. 2023
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Plaintive, breathless, and more than a little disappointed by the shabbiness of the place, Fagan is a nonthreatening figure, the sort of bloke who might wheedle a free pint in a Clerkenwell pub.
—Graham Hillard, Washington Examiner, 10 Dec. 2020
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Harper rents a British country house to work through her trauma, but the men of the local village (all of whom are played by the actor Rory Kinnear) insinuate, belittle and wheedle her, too.
—New York Times, 16 May 2022
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Andrew senses an opening to supplant Joseph as her emotional support, and a pretext to wheedle her into breaking up with her fiancé.
—Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 16 June 2022
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He and his voice have been described as aloof, eerily neutral, silky, wheedling, controlled, baleful, unisex, droll, soft, conversational, dreamy, supremely calm and rational.
—Gerry Flahive, New York Times, 30 Mar. 2018
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Belle was both, often within the same encounter, wheedling information out of Union officers while wearing Confederate garb, often to comic effect.
—Kat Eschner, Smithsonian, 9 May 2017
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Belle was both, often within the same encounter, wheedling information out of Union officers while wearing Confederate garb, often to comic effect.
—Kat Eschner, Smithsonian, 9 May 2017
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For decades, North Korean officials have angled to meet with a high-level U.S. representative using all measures of persuasion, whining, wheedling, threatening and even hostage-taking.
—Barbara Demick, latimes.com, 10 Mar. 2018
Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'wheedle.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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