blandishments

Noun

blandishment (plural blandishments)

1. (countable) Often in the plural form blandishments: a flattering speech or action designed to influence or persuade.
   • Thus Her with Indignation frowning, ſtern, / With Tears, and Blandiſhments Æneas ſooth’d : / She bends here Eyes averſe upon the Ground ; / And by his Speech begun is mov’d no more, / Than a hard Flint, or fix’d Marpeſian Rock.1755, “Æneis”, in Joseph Trapp, transl., The Works of Virgil, volume II, book 6, pages 376–377, lines 600–604

   Synonyms:

   cajolery, carny, flattery, incense, adulation, ass-kissing, ass-licking, gloze, hoomalimali, soft sawder

2. (countable) Something alluring or attractive.
   • We need intellectual leaders who are prepared to resist the blandishments of power and influence and who are willing to work for an ideal, however small may be the prospects of its early realization.1949, F. A. Hayek, “The Intellectuals and Socialism”, in University of Chicago Law Review, volume 16, number 3, Chicago: University of Chicago, →DOI, page 432
3. (figuratively, uncountable) Allurement, attraction.