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
Joe KleinPlaying the violin, she reminds people, was always something she wanted to do; no parental arm-twisting was necessary.—K. Robert Schwarz
K. Robert Schwarz
arm-twist
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
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.
Kenneth T. Walsh et al.
Synonyms
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
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
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
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'arm-twisting.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near arm-twisting
Cite this Entry
“Arm-twisting.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/arm-twisting. Accessed 5 Nov. 2024.
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