Make Your Point > Archived Issues > INVEIGLE
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pronounce
INVEIGLE:
Say it "in VAY gull."
To hear it, click here.
connect this word to others:
As we check out the word inveigle, meaning "to practically blind someone as you charm them into doing something," see if you can recall a similar verb. Not a synonym, exactly, but a verb that also connotes blinding people. It's h___w___: "to trick people by preventing them from seeing the truth, as if you're covering up their eyes with their own garment."
Before we dive in, one more thing!
When you see and hear inveigle, you might be thinking, "Isn't this related to inveigh? They sound almost exactly the same. So maybe inveigle is the frequentative form of inveigh, like dabble is to dab?"
But, nope. Their resemblance is a pure coincidence. Their roots are entirely different: if you'll let me translate their literal meanings pretty loosey-goosey,* to inveigle is to de-eye someone (ouch), while to inveigh is to attack them (even more literally, to "carry something against" them).
(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)
*Loosily-goosily? Because I used it as an adverb? Let me know. Gotta keep things serious and grammatical around here.
definition:
"Inveigle" came through French. It traces back through Latin all the way to the Greek ap ommaton, meaning "without eyes." If you blind someone's judgment, usually by talking them into something in a charming way, you're inveigling them.
In other words, to inveigle someone into something, or to inveigle your way into something, is to use charm or flattery to get someone to do something (or to get someone to let you do something), as if you're blinding their judgment.
grammatical bits:
Part of speech:
Verb, the transitive kind: "He inveigled his way into their club;" "She inveigled us into doing most of the work."
Other forms:
Inveigled, inveigling, inveiglement, inveigler(s).
how to use it:
"Inveigle" is one of those formal, odd-looking, semi-common words that you're more likely to see in writing than to hear in conversation.
Its tone can range all the way from lighthearted to sinister: "I inveigled him to split the cookie with me;" "They inveigled a young girl into their unmarked van."
You might describe people inveigling their way into something, or about people inveigling others into doing something: "Tom Sawyer inveigles his friends into painting the fence for him."
examples:
"[Members of a fascist political party] don suits to inveigle their way into mainstream politics."
— Sharon Clark, The Guardian, 21 February 2011
"Never again would he permit himself to be inveigled into paying such a visit. Yet here he was, advancing across the turf to where the tea-table was spread in the shade of a great cedar, with an ingratiating smile on his face."
— Archibald Marshall, The Honour of the Clintons, 1919
has this page helped you understand "inveigle"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "inveigle" without saying "lure" or "sweet-talk."
try it out:
Check out this example from John Knowles's A Separate Peace:
"This gathering had obviously been Finny's work. Who else could have inveigled twenty people to the farthest extremity of the school to throw snowballs at each other? I could just picture him, at the end of his ten o'clock class, organizing it with the easy authority which always came into his manner when he had an idea which was particularly preposterous."
With Finny in mind as an example, talk about another person (from fiction or real life) who can easily inveigle others. Is it charm, authority, creativity, ingenuity, or something else that gives this person their powers of inveiglement?
before you review, play:
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
Our game for September is "Four Quick Ways to Wreck a Sentence: From Professionally Polished to Strategically Sabotaged."
In each issue this month, compare two versions of a description of a popular movie. See if you can determine which is the real one (the professionally polished version from IMDB.com) and which is the fake one (the strategically sabotaged version from yours truly). The fake one will demonstrate one of the four quick ways to wreck a sentence, listed below. So, for an extra challenge, see if you can identify which of these four has been employed in the act of sabotage.
Here are the four quick ways to wreck a sentence:
1. Make the details fuzzier or fewer.
2. Jumble the order of information, forcing the reader to slow down or back up.
3. Ruin the rhythm by breaking a pattern in a pair or list.
4. Make the whole thing a chore to read by swapping in a subject that's long or abstract, and/or a verb that's vague or passive. Make it even worse by pushing the subject and the verb really far away from each other.
(Naturally, if you invert each item above, you get Four Quick Ways to Strengthen a Sentence.)
Here's an example:
Version A: "The Shawshank Redemption: Two imprisoned men bond over a number of years, finding solace and eventual redemption through acts of common decency."
Version B: "The Shawshank Redemption: Two imprisoned men bond over a number of years, finding eventual redemption and solace through acts of common decency."
Which is real, and which is fake? And in the fake one, which of the four quick ways to wreck a sentence have I employed?
Answer: A is real; B is fake. The fake was created with #2, "Jumble the order of information." Readers find it easier to process information when it's in a logical or chronological order, and when they can start with the shorter, simpler words and phrases before moving on to the longer, more complex ones. Here, it's better to write "solace and eventual redemption" instead of "eventual redemption and solace," for three reasons. One, the characters in the story probably achieve solace before they achieve redemption; two, solace as a concept is less intense and less abstract than redemption; and three, "solace" is many syllables shorter than "eventual redemption."
Try this one today:
Version A: "Forrest Gump: The presidencies of Kennedy and Johnson, the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal and other historical events unfold from the perspective of an Alabama man with an IQ of 75, whose only desire is to be reunited with his childhood sweetheart."
Version B: "Forrest Gump: Various historical events unfold from the perspective of an Alabama man with an IQ of 75, whose only desire is to be reunited with his childhood sweetheart."
Which is real, and which is fake? And in the fake one, which of the four quick ways to wreck a sentence have I employed?
To see the answers, scroll all the way down.
review this word:
A. KINDLE.
B. FINALIZE.
C. DISSUADE.
2.
According to a writer for the Guardian, the book Close to the Machine conveys a deep discomfort with the way computers have "inveigled _____."
A. our everyday lives
B. across our everyday lives
C. their way into our everyday lives
a final word:
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
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Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
As we check out the word inveigle, meaning "to practically blind someone as you charm them into doing something," see if you can recall a similar verb. Not a synonym, exactly, but a verb that also connotes blinding people. It's h___w___: "to trick people by preventing them from seeing the truth, as if you're covering up their eyes with their own garment."
"Inveigle" came through French. It traces back through Latin all the way to the Greek ap ommaton, meaning "without eyes." If you blind someone's judgment, usually by talking them into something in a charming way, you're inveigling them.
Part of speech:
"Inveigle" is one of those formal, odd-looking, semi-common words that you're more likely to see in writing than to hear in conversation.
"[Members of a fascist political party] don suits to inveigle their way into mainstream politics."
Explain the meaning of "inveigle" without saying "lure" or "sweet-talk."
Check out this example from John Knowles's A Separate Peace:
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. |