dissuade

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin dissuādeō (“to advise against, oppose by argument”),^[2][3][4] formed from dis- (“off, against”) and suādeō (“to advise, urge”).^[2][5][6] Barnhart and Etymonline see a borrowing from French as well, Barnhart from Middle French dissuader,^[5][6] and Merriam-Webster allows either source;^[7] the OED only compares the French verb, which it records from the 16th century.^[2] The second element of the Latin verb is related to suāvis (“sweet”),^[6][8] from Proto-Indo-European *swād- (“sweet, pleasant”),^[6][3][9] the base also of assuage, suave and sweet.^[9] Persuade is formed on the same Latin verb with an intensive prefix.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

To advise against something: late 15th century in the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English,^[10][11] and the 15th century in Merriam-Webster and Hoad.^[7][12] The earliest dated use the sources name is in Thomas More's History of King Richard III, which Barnhart dates 1513 and the OED before 1535.^[5][2] Etymonline gives the 1510s.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The noun came first: dissuasion, advice against, is recorded before 1420 in Lydgate's Troy Book.^[5][13] The verb at first meant to give advice against a thing or to a person.^[2][10] The sense of actually turning someone from a course by persuasion is dated to 1576.^[2] Hoad likewise puts it in the 16th century.^[12] Johnson (1755) listed both, diverting someone by reason or importunity and representing a thing as unfit or dangerous.^[14] The older senses have faded: the OED marks them as possibly obsolete, the Shorter Oxford as rare, and Merriam-Webster labels advising against an action archaic.^[2][10][7]

Timeline

• late 15th century – to advise or urge against something.^[10][11]
• 1513 – to advise against a thing, in More's History of King Richard III.^[5] The OED dates this text before 1535.^[2]
• c. 1550 – to advise a person against something.^[2]
• 1576 – to turn a person from a course by persuasion.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To turn someone from a course of action by persuasion or argument, usually with from: Her brother tried to dissuade her from selling the farm.^[15][7][2]
2. (archaic) To speak against an action as unwise.^[7][2][15]
3. (rare) To urge a person against something.^[10][7]

Word family

• dissuader
• dissuadable

Related words

• dissuasion
• dissuasive
• persuade
• suasion
• assuage
• suave

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
10. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins