blandishment

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 7, 2023 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>blandishment</strong> &#149; \BLAN-dish-munt\&nbsp; &#149; <em>noun</em><br /> <p>A <em>blandishment</em> is something said or done in order to coax or persuade an individual or group to do something. The word is usually used in its plural form, <em>blandishments</em>. </p> <p>// It's important that the mayor not be swayed by bribes and <em>blandishments</em>; decisions must be made for the overall good of the city. </p> <p>// No treat, soft words, or other <em>blandishment</em> could get the mule to move when it decided it would rather stay put. </p> <p><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blandishment">See the entry ></a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>“Justices across the ideological spectrum have been accused of failing to make pertinent financial disclosures, accepting dubious <em>blandishments</em>, rejecting well-founded calls for recusal, engaging in questionable political and financial activity, and much else that would raise the eyebrows of any reasonable observer.” — <em>Bloomberg Opinion</em>, 5 May 2023</p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p>When <em>Star Wars</em> audiences first meet former smuggler Lando Calrissian—played iconically by Billy Dee Williams—in <em>The Empire Strikes Back</em>, he is full of blandishments, offering flattery (telling Leia “You truly belong here with us among the clouds”) and gifts to our heroes in the form of food and drink (“Will you join me for a little refreshment?”) in order to entice them into what we soon discover is a trap. Notably, before the whole sordid deal goes down (and before Lando’s eventual redemption), Han Solo calls him “an old <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/smoothie">smoothie</a>.” Lando’s verbal smoothness can be linked to <em>blandishment</em> too: the word