persuasible, a.
(pəˈsweɪsɪb(ə)l)
[ad. L. persuāsibil-is, f. persuās-, ppl. stem of persuādēre to persuade: see -ble.]
† 1. Having the power to persuade; persuasive. Obs.
| 1382 Wyclif 1 Cor. ii. 4 Not in persuable [v.r. persuasible, Vulg. persuasibilibus; 1388 suteli sturyng] wordis of mannis wysdom. 1532 More Confut. Barnes viii. Wks. 810/2 One..by hys persuasible wordes had turned the waueringe people. 1580 Harvey in Spenser's Wks. (Grosart) I. 39 The best and persuasiblest Eloquence. 1647 Trapp Comm. Col. xi. 4 With probable and persuasible speeches. |
2. Capable of being, or ready to be, persuaded; open to persuasion.
| 1502 Ord. Crysten Men (W. de W. 1506) iv. xxi. 278 That suche infante fereth & loueth god and were persuasyble. 1620 T. Granger Div. Logike 374 One that is rather perswaisable by mens authoritie, then by reason. 1854 Blackw. Mag. LXXVI. 46 His wife being a persuasible woman, who will hear reason after all. |
† 3. Capable of being commended for acceptance; credible, plausible. Obs.
| 1628 Jackson Creed ix. xxxvi. §2 The latter opinion is in itself persuasible. a 1643 Ld. Falkland, etc. Infallibility (1646) 127 Nor [is] Mahumetisme at any time so perswasible as Christian religion. |
Hence perˈsuasibleness, persuasibility; perˈsuasibly adv., in a persuasible manner; † persuasively.
| 1555 in Foxe A. & M. (1583) 1802 This man did..speake..earnestly and perswasibly, as euer I heard any. 1755 Johnson, Persuasibleness, the quality of being flexible by persuasion. [Hence 1818 in Todd; and in mod. Dicts.] |