blandishment

CEFRC2

/ˈblæn.dɪʃ.m(ə)nt/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    flattery intended to persuade.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    Allurement, attraction.

Examples

  • She did not fall for his smooth words and blandishment.

  • She used blandishment to persuade.

At a glance

Sits at C2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
4
Parts of speech
1
Citations
4
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. Something alluring or attractive.

  2. Often in the plural form blandishments: a flattering speech or action designed to influence or persuade.

More examples

In context

  • The blandishment was insincere.

  • 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.

  • 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.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

She ignored his blank because she knew he was just flattering her for a favor.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From blandish (“to persuade someone by using flattery, to cajole; to praise someone dishonestly, to flatter or butter up”) + -ment (suffix forming nouns from verbs, having the sense of ‘the action or result of what is denoted by the verbs’). Blandish is derived from Middle English blaundishen (“to flatter; to fawn; to be enticing or persuasive; to be favourable; of the sea: to become calm”) [and other forms] (whence blaundice (“flattery, blandishment; caresses, dalliance; allurement, attractiveness; deceitfulness, deception”) [and other forms]), from Middle English blaundishen, from blandiss-, the extended stem of Middle French blandir + Middle English -ishen (suffix forming verbs). Blandir...