inveigle

March 17, 2015

verb

\in-VAY-gul\

Definition

1

: to win over by wiles : entice

2

: to acquire by ingenuity or flattery : wangle

Examples

I was relieved when I finally managed to inveigle her assistant into fitting me into her schedule.

"… but now the industry is headed down a path where more loathsome strategies are being put in place to inveigle consumers to throw down their dough before learning whether or not the game is actually worth buying." — Paul Tamburro, Craveonline.com, January 21, 2015

Did You Know?

Inveigle, a word that dates from the 16th century, refers to the act of using clever talk, trickery, or flattery either to persuade somebody to do something or to obtain something. What could such a word possibly have to do with blindness? Inveigle came to English from the Anglo-French verbenveegler, which means "to blind or hoodwink someone," from the adjective enveugle, meaning "blind." Enveugle derives from the Medieval Latin ab oculis, a phrase which literally translates to "lacking eyes." You might say that a person who is inveigled to do or give up something is too "blinded" by someone's words to know that he or she is being tricked.