Meanings
present singular third person blandishes · participle present blandishing · participle past blandished · past blandished
- transitiveTo praise someone dishonestly; to flatter or butter up.
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo persuade someone by using flattery; to cajole.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*(s)mel-“erroneous, false; bad, evil”
- Latinblandīrī“to fawn, flatter; to delude”
- Middle English-ishen
- Middle Frenchblandir
- Anglo-Normanblaundishen
- Middle Englishblaundishen“to flatter; to fawn; to be enticing or persuasive; to be favourable; of the sea: to become calm”
- Englishblandish
From Middle English blaundishen (“to flatter; to fawn; to be enticing or persuasive; to be favourable; of the sea: to become calm”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman blaundishen, from blandiss-, the extended stem of Middle French blandir + Middle English -ishen (suffix forming verbs). Blandir is derived from Latin blandīrī (“to fawn, flatter; to delude”), from blandus (“fawning, flattering, smooth, suave; persuasive; alluring, enticing, seductive; agreeable, pleasant”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mel- (“erroneous, false; bad, evil”)) + -iō (suffix forming causative verbs from adjectives). The English word is analysable as bland + -ish; compare bland (“agreeable, pleasant, suave; mild, soothing”).
More words from Middle English, Anglo-Norman, Middle French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian придумвам чрез ласкателство, лаская
- придумвам чрез ласкателство (pridumvam črez laskatelstvo)to persuade someone by using flattery; to cajole
- лаская (laskaja)to praise someone dishonestly; to flatter or butter up
Czech lichotit, pochlebovat
- lichotitto praise someone dishonestly; to flatter or butter up
- pochlebovatto praise someone dishonestly; to flatter or butter up
Dutch vleien, vleien
- vleiento persuade someone by using flattery; to cajole
- vleiento praise someone dishonestly; to flatter or butter up
German zureden
- zuredento persuade someone by using flattery; to cajole
Hungarian hízeleg
- hízelegto praise someone dishonestly; to flatter or butter up
Russian угова́ривать
- угова́ривать (ugovárivatʹ)to persuade someone by using flattery; to cajole
Turkish dil dökmek, yağlamak
- dil dökmekto persuade someone by using flattery; to cajole
- yağlamakto praise someone dishonestly; to flatter or butter up
- yağ çekmekto praise someone dishonestly; to flatter or butter up
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with blandish
All rhymes →Cite this entry
blandish. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/blandish
“blandish.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/blandish. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “blandish,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/blandish.
Source: blandish on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.