blandishment

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   Flattering words or actions used to coax or persuade someone.

   He resisted all her blandishments and refused to lend the money.

2. 2
   noun

   Something tempting or alluring.

   She ignored the blandishments of fame and stayed in her quiet hometown.

From blandish (“to persuade someone by using flattery, to cajole; to praise someone dishonestly, to flatter or butter up”) + -ment (suffix forming nouns from verbs, having the sense of ‘the action or result of what is denoted by the verbs’). Blandish is derived 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] (whence blaundice (“flattery, blandishment; caresses, dalliance; allurement, attractiveness; deceitfulness, deception”) [and other forms]), from Middle English blaundishen, from blandiss-,…

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