woo
/wu:/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Verb:
- To seek the affection, love, or romantic favor of someone, often with the hope of marriage or a relationship: The core meaning involves making amorous or romantic advances.
- To try to gain the support, favor, or approval of someone, often through persuasion or flattery: This meaning extends to non-romantic contexts, where one actively seeks to win over a person, group, or entity.
Examples of Usage
- Verb (Romantic):
- He tried to woo her with flowers and poetry.
- In the story, the prince woos the princess.
- Verb (Non-Romantic):
- The company is wooing new investors with promising returns.
- Politicians often woo voters before an election.
Advanced Usage
- "to woo someone away from something/someone": To persuade someone to leave their current situation, job, or partner to join yours.
- The rival firm wooed our best engineer away with a huge salary.
- "to woo someone to do something": To earnestly persuade or entice someone to take a specific action.
- They wooed the celebrity to endorse their product.
Variants and Related Words
- Wooer (noun): A person who woos someone; a suitor.
- She had many wooers, but she chose none.
- Wooing (noun/gerund): The act or process of wooing.
- His wooing was persistent but ultimately unsuccessful.
Synonyms
- Court: To pay amorous attention to; to seek the favor of.
- Pursue: To follow or seek with intent to win or obtain.
- Charm: To attract or delight, often as a means of persuasion.
- Entice: To attract or tempt by offering pleasure or advantage.
Related Phrasal Verbs
(Note: "Woo" is not commonly used with particles to form standard phrasal verbs. The advanced usages above function similarly.)
Related Idioms
- "To woo and win": To successfully court and gain the affection or agreement of someone.
- He spent months trying to woo and win the key client.
Verb
- make amorous advances towards
- John is courting Mary
- seek someone's favor
- China is wooing Russia