Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use cajole in a sentence

13 example sentences · verb, noun

Cajole means to persuade someone to do something which they are reluctant to do, especially by flattery or promises; to coax. Example: “The zookeeper was cajoling the lion back into its cage.”

Examples of cajole by meaning

verbTo persuade someone to do something which they are reluctant to do, especially by flattery or promises; to coax.

  • C.," had been sending out messengers to hunt for him, and finally had got him in his office, arguing and pleading, cajoling and denouncing him by turns.1917, Upton Sinclair, chapter 8, in King Coal
  • For weeks, the White House, the Pentagon and Senate Democrats have been working overtime to cajole, convince and placate Republicans.2010 August 4, Michael Scherer, “NonSTARTer? Obama's Troubled Nuclear Treaty”, in Time
  • “It was basically clear that his wife had been cajoled into attending,” said Ms.2012 July 13, Alex Williams, “Why Is It Hard to Make Friends Over 30?”, in New York Times

More sentences with cajole

  • The zookeeper was cajoling the lion back into its cage.From the entry cajoling
  • You can rest assured that a sick child will say when it's again ready to eat, so it won't starve and doesn't need to be cajoled into eating.From the entry rest
  • A few days later, Gaetan cajoled an airline steward friend to go with him to St.1987, Randy Shilts, And the Band Played On, Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic, page 79. From the entry airline steward
  • Warrant officers execute warrants whilst process servers distribute court summonses and cajole debtors.1973, Paul Rock, Making People Pay, page 162. From the entry warrant officer
  • Nancy Pelosi used some colorful language to cajole her fellow House Democrats into accepting the compromise budget deal.2013 December 13, Ben Zimmer, “Nancy Pelosi Told House Democrats to "Embrace the Suck." Where Did That Phrase Come From?”, in Slate. From the entry Pelosi
  • But I think that was the very reason he recoiled: your insistence, your crowding, your wanting, your cajoling, chummy Daddishness.2010, Lionel Shriver, We Need To Talk About Kevin, page 280. From the entry daddishness
  • He cajoled and flattered. browbeat and insinuated, wheeled and dealed.1965 September 2, “Outspoken Senate Chief; Mike Mansfield”, in The New York Times, page 2. From the entry wheeled and dealed
  • I hitchhiked, jumped freight trains, cajoled guajiros into lending me their mules, slept in caves or beneath the canopies of immense ceiba trees.1997, Cristina García, “Rarae Aves”, in The Agüero Sisters, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, →ISBN, page 153. From the entry rara avis
  • Large factories use “pushers” who cajole, threaten, wine, dine, and bribe those in whose hands rests the power to allocate needed resources, machinery, raw materials, or spare parts.2017, Michael Rywkin, Soviet Society Today, page 35. From the entry pusher
  • Besides, Kenny turned out to be a real Mommie’s boy, not a bit like Steve who’d had a way of teasing Celie but ignoring her cajoling.2000, Bernice Morgan, “Vain Deceit”, in The Topography of Love: Stories, St. John’s, Nfld.: Breakwater, published 2002 (2nd printing)…. From the entry mommie's boy

Meaning of cajole

  1. verb To persuade someone to do something which they are reluctant to do, especially by flattery or promises; to coax.
  2. noun The act of cajoling.

Full definition of cajole

Questions about cajole in a sentence

How do you use cajole in a sentence?
Cajole is used as a verb and noun. For example: “The zookeeper was cajoling the lion back into its cage.”
What is a short sentence with cajole?
“He cajoled and flattered. browbeat and insinuated, wheeled and dealed.”
What does cajole mean?
Cajole means to persuade someone to do something which they are reluctant to do, especially by flattery or promises; to coax.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cajole (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use cajole in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/cajole. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.