cajole

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 2, 2025 is: cajole • kuh-JOHL  • verb To cajole someone is to use flattery or gentle urging to persuade them to do something or to give you something. Cajole can also mean “to deceive with soothing words or false promises.” It is often used with the word into. // She cajoled her partner into going to the party with her. // They hoped to cajole him into cooperating with local officials. See the entry > Examples: “... I cajoled my father into letting me use the company season tickets which were supposed to be used for clients, but sometimes wound up in my hands.” — Sal Maiorana, The Rochester (New York) Democrat and Chronicle, 22 Oct. 2025 Did you know? However hard we try, we can’t cajole the full history of cajole from the cages of obscurity. We know that it comes from the French verb cajoler, meaning “to give much attention to; to make a fuss over; to flatter or persuade with flattery,” and goes back to the Middle French cajoller, meaning “to flatter out of self-interest.” But the next chapter of the word’s history may, or may not, be for the birds: it’s possible that cajoller relates to the Middle French verb cageoller, used for the action of a jay or other bird singing. Cageoller, in turn, traces back to gaiole, a word meaning “birdcage” in a dialect of Picardy.