coaxing
part of speech
noun (coaxing – uncountable); adjective (coaxing); verb form (of «coax»: coax, coaxes, coaxed, coaxing)
meaning for a pupil
1) Gently persuading someone to do something by being kind, patient and pleasant. tree →
2) (adjective) Gentle and persuading: «a coaxing voice». tree →
3) Getting something to work or move by careful, gentle handling: «coaxing a fire to light». tree →
sense in the lessons
In stories, characters coax shy animals out of hiding, or coax a friend to come along; the Rat coaxes the homesick Mole and the Badger coaxes Toad to give up cars. In everyday life: coaxing a cat out from under the bed with treats. Phrases: «with a bit of coaxing», «coax someone into/out of».
examples
- After a lot of coaxing, the kitten came out from under the sofa. tree →
- She spoke in a coaxing voice. tree →
- The Rat was coaxing the Mole to tell his trouble. tree →
- It took some coaxing to get my brother into the cold sea. tree →
- Dad was coaxing the old car to start. tree →
- With gentle coaxing, the shy pupil read her poem aloud. tree →
- The Mouse did not need much coaxing, for he was very anxious to see the world and everything in it. tree →
note
Said «KOH-ksing». «Coax» rhymes with «hoax». Coaxing is gentle; forcing or bullying is not coaxing.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «coaxing» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.