coax
verb /kəʊks/
/kəʊks/
Verb Forms
Phrasal Verbs| present simple I / you / we / they coax | /kəʊks/ /kəʊks/ |
| he / she / it coaxes | /ˈkəʊksɪz/ /ˈkəʊksɪz/ |
| past simple coaxed | /kəʊkst/ /kəʊkst/ |
| past participle coaxed | /kəʊkst/ /kəʊkst/ |
| -ing form coaxing | /ˈkəʊksɪŋ/ /ˈkəʊksɪŋ/ |
- to persuade somebody to do something by talking to them in a kind and gentle way synonym cajole
- coax somebody/something (into doing something) She coaxed the horse into coming a little closer.
- coax somebody/something (into/out of something) He was coaxed out of retirement to help the failing company.
- coax somebody/something (+ adv./prep.) Police managed to coax the man down from the ledge.
- (figurative) She had to coax the car along.
- coax (somebody/something) + speech ‘Nearly there,’ she coaxed.
- coax somebody/something (to do something) She gently coaxes them to speak about their experiences.
Extra ExamplesTopics Discussion and agreementc2- He gently coaxed life back into my frozen toes.
- She never failed to coax good results out of her pupils.
- ‘Come on, just a little bit further,’ he coaxed.
- She had coaxed, cajoled and bribed the boys to do what she wanted.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- gently
- try to
- manage to
- fail to
- …
- from
- into
- out of
- …
Word Originlate 16th cent.: from obsolete cokes ‘simpleton’, of unknown origin. The original sense was ‘fondle’, hence ‘persuade by caresses or flattery’, the underlying sense being ‘make a simpleton of’.