Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use persuasion in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun

Persuasion means the act of persuading, or trying to do so; the addressing of arguments to someone with the intention of changing their mind or convincing them of a certain point of view, course of action etc. Example: “Some of the shopowners were resistant to the extortion, so the mafia did some persuasion.”

Examples of persuasion by meaning

nounThe act of persuading, or trying to do so; the addressing of arguments to someone with the intention of changing their...

  • With the base unleashed, the White House was unable to broker a compromise, either by persuasion or by pressure.2006, Rachel Morris, “Borderline Catastrophe”, in Washington Monthly, vol. 38:10

nounAn argument or other statement intended to influence one's opinions or beliefs; a way of persuading someone.

  • Hamilton's writhing persuasions, prays and becomes penitent.1928 February 13, “The New Pictures”, in Time

nounAll activity attempting to influence or control others' behavior or profession of beliefs, from convincing to...

  • Some of the shopowners were resistant to the extortion, so the mafia did some persuasion.

nounA strongly held conviction, opinion or belief.

  • It is his persuasion that abortion should never be condoned.
  • Surely this goes for people of all sexual persuasions.2010 February 6, “We don't need gay stereotypes”, in The Guardian

nounA specified religious adherence, a creed; any school of thought or ideology.

  • As a convert from the Baptist persuasion more than 40 years ago, I still feel like an outsider in the church despite the kindness and acceptance of Catholic friends.2009, US Catholic (letter), May 2009

nounAnother personal, animal or inanimate trait that is not (very) liable to be changed by persuasion, such as sex, gender...

  • AND turning for tor the moment from National to local affairs, we note there is a chimpanzee of the female persuasion out at Lincoln Park, of whom it is said that she can do everything but talk.1919, Pere Marquette Magazine, volume 11, page 19
  • This plainly implies that an equine animal either is of the feminine gender or is of the neuter persuasion.1967, Taxes. The Tax Magazine, volume 45, number 2, page 698
  • Being a discussion between a Swede and an Australian of the medical persuasion, conversation turned to Pehr Edman who, as a Swedish expatriate, spent many years in Australia heading up the School of Medical Research at St Vincent's Hospital.1984, The Medical Journal of Australia, page 739

More sentences with persuasion

  • The boss condescended not to sack him after much persuasion from his coworkers.From the entry condescend
  • He was unschooled in the art of persuasion.From the entry unschooled
  • After some persuasion, he finally agreed.From the entry some
  • Sholars can revisit the skills and subskills of critical thinking and then use them to revisit persuasion.2006, Sandra J. Berkowitz, “Developing Critical Thinking through Forensics and Communication Education: Assessing the Impact Through…. From the entry resourcement
  • The pre-to-post shift in preferences toward the advertised brand is the persuasion measure.2006, Rajiv Grover, Marco Vriens, The Handbook of Marketing Research. From the entry pre-to-post
  • One's theological persuasion may not bend, but one's involvements with others must.2006, Charles R. Swindoll, The Grace Awakening. From the entry wobble room
  • Women of that persuasion were forced to hide from gingerphobia in Russet Lodge, a "ginger refuge".2005 July 22, Ian Bell, “Those who pay the PR rarely get to call a tune as perfect as this one”, in The Herald, Glasgow. From the entry gingerphobia
  • It was not fashionable in those days to have too many friends of the Democratish persuasion.1994, The Public Manager, volume 23, page 60. From the entry democratish
  • It was obvious that the power of persuasion wasn't going to do the trick.1986, Jonathan Kellerman, Blood Test, New York, N.Y.: Signet Books, published 1987, page 23. From the entry schiz
  • The regular January talkfest high in the Swiss Alps attracted an impressive list of world leaders of all political persuasions.2024 January 19, Larry Elliott, John Collingridge, “Casting their shadow: how Trump, Putin and AI dominated talk at Davos”, in The…. From the entry talkfest
  • The second mode of persuasion uses a pathotic argument which uses emotion implicitly or explicitly as a persuasive tool.2020 May 15, Lungile Augustine Tshuma, “ZANU–PF Women’s League and the (Re)configuration of Political Power in Influencing Succession…. From the entry pathotic
  • There are those of the terven persuasion in my mentions and I have exactly no energy to deal today.2019 June 3, Roo B. (@roo_b_boy), Twitter. From the entry terven
  • Americans of all persuasions at last agree on something.2010 May 20, David Von Drehle, “The Pitchfork Primaries: Will Washington Get the Message?”, in Time, retrieved 28 May 2015. From the entry the natives are restless
  • FOR cooks of a lemon-loving persuasion, a puckery citrus curd is the culinary analogue of a chocolate fanatic’s fudgy ganache.2007 April 18, Melissa Clark, “Silky, Sweet and Tart, a Triple Threat”, in New York Times. From the entry fudgy
  • In the last decade, persuasion has been investigated in two apparently distinct lines of research: captology, and teaching as persuasion.2006, Wijnand IJsselsteijn, Yvonne de Kort, Cees Midden, Berry Eggen, Elise van den Hoven, Persuasive Technology: First International…. From the entry captology
  • The term is not used in a derogatory sense, but rather in tolerant approbation as being of an independent persuasion.1997, David Paynter, Clive Upton and J.D.A. Widdowson, Yorkshire Words Today: a glossary of regional dialect, The Yorkshire Dialect…. From the entry pot o' one
  • Once this showing has been made, the burden of production shifts to the nonmovant having the burden of persuasion.1995, Environmental Administrative Decisions, page 76. From the entry nonmovant
  • My FedEx driver is of the female persuasion.1994 June 15, Keith Shillington, “Re: UPSy-daisy”, in soc.motss (Usenet). From the entry dykedar
  • By the sword or by diplomacy, through terror or persuasion, Temüjin had subdued or enslaved a hundred peoples.1990, Michel Hoang, translated by Ingrid Cranfield, Genghis Khan, Saqi Books, →ISBN, page 20. From the entry Uighur
  • Certainly it is awesome to think of a nation that brings its powers of persuasion against a woman's right to conceive.1984 February 14, John Corry, “Birth Curb in China”, in The New York Times, →ISSN. From the entry awesome
  • Missionary activity may occur interdenominationally or intradenominationally between competing persuasions advocating different degrees of religiosity or variant belief systems.1974, B. Zvi Sobel, Hebrew Christianity: The Thirteenth Tribe, page 347. From the entry intradenominationally
  • The rest is an attempt at persuasion.1936 November, Robert Palfrey Utter, Gwendolyn Bridges Needham, “The Lass with the Delicate Air”, in Pamela’s Daughters, New York, N.Y.…. From the entry brune
  • The Disagreeable Girl is a female of the genus homo persuasion, built around a digestive apparatus that possesses marked marshmallow proclivities.1906, Elbert Hubbard, Love, Life and Work. From the entry marshmallow
  • But it is equally important to recognize that this scope for disagreement about social priorities between truly liberal-minded politicians of differing persuasions is not unlimited.2010, Mark de Rond, Iain Morley, Serendipity: Fortune and the Prepared Mind, →ISBN, page 116. From the entry liberal-minded
  • Sometimes a propagandum is designed to be passed from one receiver to another because this increases the propagandum’s efficiency as an agent of mass persuasion.2006, David Haig, “The Gene Meme”, in Alan Grafen, Mark Ridley, editors, Richard Dawkins: How a Scientist Changed the Way We Think…. From the entry propagandum
  • The idea of the hikoi was conceived at the General Synod of the Anglican Church but soon came to involve Christians of all persuasions.1999, W. R. Atkin, Katrine Evans, Human Rights and the Common Good: Christian Perspectives, page 148. From the entry hikoi
  • Wordsters of etymological persuasion also hope to be sitting in the catbird seat when it comes to locating the origins of colorful phrases.1994, Richard Lederer, Adventures of a Verbivore, New York, N.Y.: Pocket Books, →ISBN, page 5. From the entry wordster
  • Citizens of all political persuasions (not to mention members of the Trump administration) can increasingly live in their own news media bubbles, consuming only views similar to their own.2017 March 21, Michiko Kakutani, “‘The Death of Expertise’ Explores How Ignorance Became a Virtue”, in The New York Times, →ISSN. From the entry bubble
  • When a negatively privileged challenger faces a positively privileged target, exchange and persuasion are not likely, because the challenger has no positive inducements for the target.1993, Anthony Oberschall, Social Movements: Ideologies, Interests, and Identities, page 98. From the entry negatively privileged
  • In her role as a citifying presence, Athena often is associated with political structures, the administration of justice, and the arts of persuasion, such as rhetoric.1989, David R. Kinsley, The Goddesses' Mirror: Visions of the Divine from East and West. From the entry citify
  • The little suggestions of look and tone; the easy fibs and bigger lies; the tricks of persuasion, the onleading wiles — all these I could not master.1918, Michael Williams, The Book of the High Romance: A Spiritual Autobiography, page 41. From the entry big

Meaning of persuasion

  1. noun The act of persuading, or trying to do so; the addressing of arguments to someone with the intention of changing their mind or convincing them of a certain point of view, course of action etc.
  2. noun An argument or other statement intended to influence one's opinions or beliefs; a way of persuading someone.
  3. noun All activity attempting to influence or control others' behavior or profession of beliefs, from convincing to threatening, assault, or battery.

Full definition of persuasion

Questions about persuasion in a sentence

How do you use persuasion in a sentence?
Persuasion is used as a noun. For example: “Some of the shopowners were resistant to the extortion, so the mafia did some persuasion.”
What is a short sentence with persuasion?
“After some persuasion, he finally agreed.”
What does persuasion mean?
Persuasion means the act of persuading, or trying to do so; the addressing of arguments to someone with the intention of changing their mind or convincing them of a certain point of view, course of action etc.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: persuasion (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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