woo
Americanverb (used with object)
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to seek the favor, affection, or love of, especially with a view to marriage.
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to seek to win.
to woo fame.
- Synonyms:
- cultivate
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to invite (consequences, whether good or bad) by one's own action; court.
to woo one's own destruction.
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to seek to persuade (a person, group, etc.), as to do something; solicit; importune.
verb (used without object)
-
to seek the affection or love of someone, usually a woman; court.
He was reminded of his youth when he went wooing.
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to solicit favor or approval; entreat.
Further attempts to woo proved useless.
verb
-
to seek the affection, favour, or love of (a woman) with a view to marriage
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(tr) to seek after zealously or hopefully
to woo fame
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(tr) to bring upon oneself (good or evil results) by one's own action
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(tr) to beg or importune (someone)
Other Word Forms
- unwooed adjective
- wooer noun
- wooing noun
- wooingly adverb
Etymology
Origin of woo
First recorded before 1050; Middle English wowe, Old English wōgian; ultimate origin uncertain
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Magyar promises to tackle corruption, improve the economy and he has sought to woo Hungary's disadvantaged Roma community.
From BBC
“We did everything right,” said St. Clair Mayor Bill Cedar, who was part of an effort to woo Magna with tax breaks and the construction of a new water tower to supply the facility.
Even though local representatives of Morgan Stanley and Merrill have tried to woo him, he doesn’t answer their calls.
Belatedly, he had begun scrambling to catch up, making time on his calendar to woo individual AI researchers, even though he was busy running a company with 6,000 employees and a billion customers.
The initial campaign, launched in spring of 2025, wooed prospective members by offering easy, at home cancellations.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
