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Persuasive

Definitions: Persuasive

Persuasive

Adjective

1. Tending or intended or having the power to induce action or belief; "persuasive eloquence"; "a most persuasive speaker".

2. Capable of convincing; "a persuasive argument".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "persuasive" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references)


Synonym: Persuasive

Synonym: Cogent. (additional references)
Antonym: dissuasive (adj). (additional references)

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Synonyms within Context: Persuasive

ContextSynonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).

Belief

Worthy of, deserving of, commanding belief; credible, reliable, trustworthy, to be depended on; satisfactory; probably; fiducial, fiduciary; persuasive, impressive.

Demonstration

Convincing, cogent, persuasive (believable).

Motive

Adjective: impulsive, motive; suasive, suasory, persuasive, persuasory, hortative, hortatory; protreptical; inviting, tempting; Verb: suasive, suasory; seductive, attractive; fascinating; (pleasing); provocative; (exciting).

Reasoning,

Logical sequence; good case; correct just reasoning, sound reasoning, valid reasoning, cogent reasoning, logical reasoning, forcible reasoning, persuasive reasoning, persuasory reasoning, consectary reasoning, conclusive; ; subtle reasoning; force of argument, strong point, strong argument, persuasive argument.

Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

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Crosswords: Persuasive

English words defined with "persuasive": coaxing, cogency, cogent, counterdefence, defenseglib, glib-tonguedhard-hitting, high-pressure, Honey-mouthed, Honey-tonguedIneloquent, ingratiatoryParenetioal, persuasively, Persuasory, Protreptical, Psychagogicsmooth-tongued, soft sell, Suasivetalking point, tellingvindicationweighty. (references)
Specialty definitions using "persuasive": BosomPersuasive Communicationreality-distortion field. (references)
Etymologies containing "persuasive": AssuasivePersuasiblesuasion. (references)

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Modern Usage: Persuasive

DomainUsage

Screenplays

Congratulations, you have very persuasive friends. (Gladiator; writing credit: David Franzoni)

Sometimes I'm more persuasive when I lack conviction. (Ally McBeal; writing credit: Henri Vernes)

Lyrics

Convincing eyes, persuasive lips (I Get Weak; performing artist: Belinda Carlisle)

Movie/TV Titles

Persuasive Peggy (1917)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Commercial Usage: Persuasive

DomainTitle

Books

  • Submit Now: Designing Persuasive Websites (reference)

  • The Elements of Legal Writing: A Guide to the Principles of Writing Clear, Concise, and Persuasive Legal Documents (reference)

  • Why We Must Run With Scissors: Voice Lesson in Persuasive Writing (reference)

    (more book examples)

  

Music

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Photo Album: Persuasive

ThumbnailDescription & Credit

"Marine Corps Leathernecks with the 1st Marine Division in Korea are subject to outdoor advertising of a not particularly persuasive type these days. As enemy positions are overrun, signs such as the ones in this photograph, taken by Marine Corps Combat photographers, are found. It's a new kind of recruiting for the Communist Peoples Volunteer Force -- but Communist recruiting officers reports are strangely silent as to the success of the current campaign." Quoted from the original caption released with this p.Credit: NAVY; photo by Commander, Naval Forces Far East under date of 11 May 1951. Note the Marine's goggles and M-1 carbine..

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Familiar Quotations: Persuasive

AuthorQuotation

Homer

Persuasive speech, and more persuasive sighs, Silence that spoke and eloquence of eyes.

Johann Friedrich Von Schiller

Power is the most persuasive rhetoric.

Lao-Tzu

Truthful words are not beautiful; beautiful words are not truthful. Good words are not persuasive; persuasive words are not good.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Use in Literature: Persuasive

TitleAuthorQuote

Scarlet Letter

Hawthorne, Nathaniel

Oftenest persuasive, but sometimes terrible!

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Non-Fiction Usage: Persuasive

SubjectTopicQuote

Health

Other, more persuasive research results, however, indicated that these concerns were not warranted. (references)

Animal studies thus offer strong and persuasive evidence supporting the causal relationship between blood cholesterol and atherosclerosis. (references)

Civil Liberties

Botswana

On September 20, a magistrate did not find the BCHR's evidence persuasive and ruled that the 13 did not have a legitimate fear of persecution upon their return. (references)

Economic History

Philippines

U.S. jurisprudence is, however, persuasive in the Philippine tax scene. (references)

Indonesia

Many economists believe that accelerating inflation, continued fluctuations in the Rupiah against the dollar, and high base money growth rates present persuasive evidence that Bank Indonesia's monetary policy is too loose. (references)

Political Rights

Singapore

The PAP claims that the lack of an effective opposition is due to disorganization, lack of leadership, and lack of persuasive alternative policies. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

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Usage Frequency: Persuasive

"Persuasive" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 99.82% of the time. "Persuasive" is used about 547 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)
Parts of SpeechPercentUsage per
100 Million Words
Rank in English
Adjective (general or positive)99.82%54611,360
Noun (proper)0.18%1339,140
                    Total100.00%547N/A

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Expressions: Persuasive

Expressions using "persuasive": persuasive advertisement persuasive argument persuasive believable Persuasive Communication. Additional references.

Hypenated Usage

Ending with "persuasive": all-persuasive, highly-persuasive.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: Persuasive

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.
 
ExpressionFrequency
per Day
  ExpressionFrequency
per Day

  persuasive speech

1,034

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15

  persuasive speech topic

625

  persuasive paper

13

  persuasive essay

264

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12

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175

  persuasive communication

12

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168

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12

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118

  persuasive presentation

12

  persuasive essay topic

75

  letter persuasive sample

11

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71

  memo persuasive

10

  persuasive speech idea

47

  persuasive speech writing

10

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40

  persuasive paragraph

9

  free persuasive speech topic

37

  persuasive article

9

  persuasive speech outline

34

  write a persuasive speech

9

  persuasive speech sample

34

  persuasive paper topic

9

  persuasive speech example

33

  persuasive speech on abortion

8

  persuasive essay example

31

  persuasive technique

8

  persuasive letter

29

  persuasive writing prompt

8

  persuasive speaking

20

  persuasive thinking

8

  persuasive essay sample

18

  persuasive sample

7

  good persuasive speech topic

17

  example of persuasive writing

7

  persuasive papers

16

  free example of persuasive speech

7
  

topic for persuasive writing

7
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Modern Translations: Persuasive

Language Translations for "persuasive"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.

Albanian

  

shtytje (boost, dub, impulse, impulsion, impulsiveness, incitement, inducement, jostle, poke, pressure, prompt, prompting, propulsion, push, repulsion), që të bind, që ta mbush mendjen, motiv (course, motif, motive, pattern, reason, spring, theme), bindës (cogent, conclusive, convincing, decisive, forcible, plausible). (various references)

   

Arabic 

  

‏مقنع (cogent, convincing, disguised, in disguise, masked, masqueraded, veiled), ‏شىء مقنع. (various references)

   

Bulgarian 

  

убедителен (convincing, demonstrative, eloquent, evidential, fair-spoken, forcible, potent, seductive, solid, suasive, telling, vigorous, weighty), подбуда (impulse, incentive, inducement, inspiration, motion, motive, prod, prompting, sanction, spring, spur, stimulus), довод (argument, plea, reason). (various references)

   

Chinese 

  

令人信服 (Persuasiveness). (various references)

   

Czech

  

přesvìdèivý (absolute, clear-cut, cogent, conclusive, convincing, forceful, potent, sound, unanswerable). (various references)

   

Danish

  

persuasionsterapi (persuasive therapy, persuasive treatment), vaegt paa juridisk plan (persuasive authority). (various references)

   

Dutch

  

persuasie (persuasive therapy, persuasive treatment), juridisch gezag (persuasive authority). (various references)

   

Farsi 

  

متقاعدکننده (Cogent), مجاب کننده , وادارکننده , تشویقی . (various references)

   

French

  

persuasif (persuader), convaincant. (various references)

   

German

  

überzeugend (coercive, cogent, cogently, conclusive, conclusively, convincing, convincingly, forceful, forcefully, persuading, persuasively, potent, powerful, suasive, substantive). (various references)

   

Greek 

  

πειστικόσ (cogent, conclusive, convincing, forcible, sleek, suasive), παρακινητικόσ (exciting, hortative). (various references)

   

Hebrew 

  

משכנע (cogent, convincing, evincive, plausible). (various references)

   

Hungarian

  

indíték (cause, ground, grounds, impulse, inducement, motion, motivation, motive, reason, stimulus). (various references)

   

Indonesian

  

meyakinkan (cogent, convince, ensure). (various references)

   

Italian

  

persuasivo (coaxing, cogent, convincing), convincente (cogent, conclusive, convincing, tolling, whacking). (various references)

   

Japanese Kanji 

  

説得力 (persuasive power), 至論 (persuasive argument). (various references)

   

Japanese Katakana 

  

しろん (essay, essay on poetry, historical discussion, historical treatise, one's personal opinion or views, persuasive argument, tentative assumption, theory of poetry), せっとくりょく (persuasive power). (various references)

   

Korean 

  

설득력 있는. (various references)

   

Manx

  

breigagh (alluring, coaxing, enticing, wheedling). (various references)

   

Pig Latin

  

ersuasivepay

   

Portuguese

  

persuasivo (cogent), motivo (account, cause, foundation, ground, motif, motive, motto, movie, occasion, place, reason, sake, score, signal, subject, wherefore, why), incentivo (combustible, encouragement, fillip, fuel, goad, inception, incivility, spur, stimulus), estímulo (actuation, animation, fillip, fond, fuel, impulse, incentive, incitement, inducement, kick, motivations, pickpocket, prod, spur, stimulant, stimulus), convicção (belief, certainty, confidence, conviction, faith). (various references)

   

Romanian

  

persuasiv (persuasively), grãitor (convincing, eloquent, graphic, graphical, graphically, illustrative, indicative, telling), convingãtor (cogent, conclusive, convincing, forcible, potent, silver-tongued, stringent, strong). (various references)

   

Russian 

  

убедительный (cogent, conclusive, convincing, forceful, potent, suasive). (various references)

   

Serbo-Croatian

  

uverljiv (credible), ubedljiv (cogent, conceivable, conclusive, convincing, decisive, satisfying, weighty). (various references)

   

Spanish

  

persuasivo (convincing). (various references)

   

Swedish

  

motiv (account, designs, motif, motive, reason, subject, theme), bevekelsegrund (inducement, motive), bevekande (moving, pleading), övertalande. (various references)

   

Turkish

  

inandırıcı (cogent, colorable, conclusive, convincing, credible, demonstrative, evidential, evidentiary, likely, potent, vivid), ikna edici (cogent, convincing, potent, suasive). (various references)

   

Turkmen 

  

degerli (convincing, efficacious). (various references)

   

Ukranian 

  

спонука (impetus, impulse, impulsion, incentive, motion, motivation, motive, oestrus, provocation, urge), переконливий (cogent, commanding, conclusive, convictive, convincing, decisive, demonstrative, forcible, ostensive, powerful, stringent). (various references)

   

Vietnamese 

  

khiến tin theo, khiến nghe theo, có tài thuyết phục, có sức thuyết phục (convincing, weighty). (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

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Ancestral Language Translations: Persuasive

LanguagePeriodTranslations
Latin500 BCE-Modern

blandus, eloquens, suade. (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Derivations & Misspellings: Persuasive

Derivations

Words beginning with "persuasive": persuasively, persuasiveness, persuasivenesses. (additional references)

Words ending with "persuasive": unpersuasive. (additional references)


Misspellings

"Persuasive" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: persuasiv, persueasive, presuasive, pursuasive. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Rhyming with "Persuasive"

# of Phoneme MatchesPronunciationWord(s) rhyming with "persuasive" (pronounced perswā"siv)
4-ā" s i vabrasive, evasive, invasive, pervasive.
3-s i vabusive, adhesive, aggressive, allusive, apprehensive, aversive, coercive, cohesive, collusive, comprehensive, compulsive, conclusive, conducive, convulsive, corrosive, counteroffensive, decisive, defensive, depressive, derisive, discursive, dismissive, dispersive, divisive, effusive, elusive, erosive, excessive, exclusive, expansive, expensive, explosive, expressive, extensive, hypertensive, illusive, impassive, impressive, impulsive, incisive, inclusive, inconclusive, indecisive, inexpensive, inoffensive, intrusive, massive, missive, nonexclusive, nonresponsive, obsessive, obtrusive, offensive, oppressive, passive, pensive, permissive, possessive, progressive, recessive, reclusive, reflexive, regressive, repressive, repulsive, responsive, submissive, subversive, successive, unimpressive, unobtrusive, unresponsive.

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

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Anagrams: Persuasive

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Words within the letters "a-e-e-i-p-r-s-s-u-v"

-1 letter: supervise.

-2 letters: parvises, pavisers, previses, upraises.

-3 letters: aperies, asperse, aspires, pareses, paresis, parises, parvise, passive, pausers, paviser, pavises, peavies, peruses, praises, previse, prevues, pussier, reissue, repaves, reseaus, revises, sauries, seisure, serapes, spavies, spireas, suasive, suspire, upraise, uprises, ureases, varuses, vespers, viruses.

-4 letters: aeries, aivers, arises, aspers, aspire, assure, averse, easier, easies, erases, espies, issuer.

 Words containing the letters "a-e-e-i-p-r-s-s-u-v"
 

+2 letters: persuasively, superlatives, supermassive, unpersuasive.

 

+4 letters: overpersuasion, persuasiveness, superachievers, supergravities.

 

+5 letters: overpersuasions, superactivities, superelevations, superlativeness.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Alternative Orthography: Persuasive


Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)

50 65 72 73 75 61 73 69 76 65

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)

American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)

=

Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)

Braille (1829, in France) (references)

Morse Code (1836) (references)

.--.    .    .-.    ...    ..-    .-    ...    ..    ...-    .

Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)

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Bibliographic Items: "persuasive"


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Amazon.com BOOKS: Search for: "persuasive"

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Public Service or Web Sites Triggered by: Persuasive