different between ingratiate vs wheedle

English

Etymology

First attested in 1622. From Italian ingraziare or Medieval Latin *ingratiatus, from Latin in gr?tiam (“for the favor of”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?n???e?.?i.e?t/
• Rhymes: -e??ie?t

Verb

ingratiate (third-person singular simple present ingratiates, present participle ingratiating, simple past and past participle ingratiated)

1. (reflexive) To bring oneself into favour with someone by flattering or trying to please him or her.
   • 1903, Samuel Butler, The Way of All Flesh, ch. 58:

     [H]e would pat the children on the head when he saw them on the stairs, and ingratiate himself with them as far as he dared.

   • 2007 July 9, Brian Bennett, "Why Maliki Is Still Around," Time (retrieved 26 May 2014):

     He ingratiated himself with the Kurdish bloc when he stood up to aggressive Turkish rhetoric about the Kurdish border in May.

2. (followed by to) To recommend; to render easy or agreeable.
   • c. 1650, Henry Hammond, "Sermon XIII" in Miscellaneous Theological Works of Henry Hammond, Volume 3 (1850 edition), p. 283 (Google preview):

     What difficulty would it [the love of Christ] not ingratiate to us?

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Dr. J. Scott to this entry?)

Related terms

• ingratiating (adjective)
• ingratiation (noun)

Translations

References

English

Etymology

Origin uncertain. Perhaps continuing Middle English wedlen (“to beg, ask for alms”), from Old English w?dlian (“to be poor, be needy, be in want, beg”), from Proto-Germanic *w?þl?n? (“to be in need”).

More likely, borrowed from German wedeln (“to wag one's tail”), from Middle High German wedelen, a byform of Middle High German wadelen (“to wander, waver, wave, whip, stroke, flutter”), from Old High German w?dal?n (“to wander, roam, rove”). In this case, it may be a doublet of waddle, or an independently formed etymological equivalent.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /??i?.d?l/ (without the wine-whine merger)
• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /?wi?.d?l/ (with the wine-whine merger)

Verb

wheedle (third-person singular simple present wheedles, present participle wheedling, simple past and past participle wheedled)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To cajole or attempt to persuade by flattery.

2. (transitive) To obtain by flattery, guile, or trickery.

Derived terms

• wheedler
• wheedling
• wheedlesome

Translations

Noun

wheedle (plural wheedles)

1. (archaic) A coaxing person.

Anagrams

• wheeled