Word of the DayFriday, May 03, 2002
blandishment
\BLAN-dish-muhnt\ , noun:1.
Speech or action that flatters and tends to coax, entice, or persuade; allurement -- often used in the plural.
Quotes:
But she had not risen at all to the law fellow's blandishments, his attempts to interest her in his ideas and persuade her to set forth her own.
-- John Bayley, Elegy for Iris
And that my English-speaking victims find my blandishments so pretty, accented as they are, and yield to my soft lustrous Italian pronunciations, is a constant source of bliss for me.
-- Anne Rice, Vittorio, the Vampire
Perfect, gentle reader: I will not begin this book with a tribute to your discernment, because a person of your obvious accomplishments would certainly be immune to such blandishments.
-- Richard Stengel, You're Too Kind: A Brief History of Flattery
Origin:
Blandishment ultimately comes from Latin blandiri, "to flatter, caress, coax," from blandus, "flattering, mild."
