arm-twisting

noun

arm-twist·​ing ˈärm-ˌtwi-stiŋ 

plural arm-twistings

: the act or practice of forcing or obliging people to do things they do not want to do in order to achieve a desired end

His mastery of the Congress was celebrated … mostly because of his arm-twisting … in lining up votes.

—Joe Klein

Playing the violin, she reminds people, was always something she wanted to do; no parental arm-twisting was necessary.

—K. Robert Schwarz

arm-twist

ˈärm-ˌtwist 

transitive verb

arm-twisted; arm-twisting; arm-twists

[Aubrey] Plaza's character could be presented as a victim of circumstance, the clichéd heist-movie character arm-twisted into one last job.

—Ross Douthat

arm-twister noun

plural arm-twisters

Call them the arm-twisters—the senior campaign aides and Democratic leaders who are in the forefront of courting, cajoling, and capturing the superdelegates.

—Kenneth T. Walsh et al.

Synonyms

• coercion
• compulsion
• constraint
• duress
• force
• pressure

Examples of arm-twisting in a Sentence

it took some arm-twisting, but they eventually agreed to make a donation

Recent Examples on the Web

What about the shrill speculations that nefarious Trumpian arm-twisting was involved which pressured Netanyahu to comply? —Melik Kaylan, Forbes, 20 Jan. 2025

Israel, often skeptical of UN solutions, would likely need some convincing to back a trusteeship, up to and including the type of U.S. arm-twisting seen recently over weapons shipments. —Lloyd Axworthy, Foreign Affairs, 15 May 2024

After some arm-twisting by Mottola, the Recording Academy invited Martin to perform at the 41st Grammy Awards. —Andrea Flores, Los Angeles Times, 20 May 2024

Biden’s verbal arm-twisting should not be taken lightly. —Yossi Melman and Dan Raviv, TIME, 15 Apr. 2024

The Bush administration and its successor worked hard in cooperation with Yeltsin to make that happen, using a series of inducements and diplomatic arm-twisting. —Serhii Plokhy, Foreign Affairs, 22 Nov. 2019

His years of gentle arm-twisting paid off in the creation of the consortium, which collected genetic data from more than 11,000 people with Alzheimer’s and a nearly equal number of older people who showed no signs of dementia. —Linda Marsa, Discover Magazine, 3 Dec. 2019

But the couple will not spend time on any presidential arm-twisting. —Laura Vozzella, Washington Post, 30 Sep. 2023

That set the table for a Wednesday House vote, but arm-twisting for votes continued up to the final minute. —Laura Litvan, Bloomberg.com, 2 June 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1924, in the meaning defined above