Skip to main content
to bring around

to bring around

3 3.6
To cause someone to change their mind
  • phrasal verb
  • /brɪŋ əˈraʊnd/
  • Informal
translation icon : convencer
  • We owe it to posterity," she wheedled, and by this and comparable appeals to the Battle-Purfitt sense of duty, she brought him around.

Examples

  • Anyone else have thoughts on how that meeting could work out to Egwene's benefit by bringing her around?

    Blog text (9)
  • I still think I can bring her around.

  • "I'll bring the car around."

    Fiction book (1994)
  • "I'll bring the truck around.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • Well, how'd you bring her around?

  • After that first trial run, the next week brought around 120 students and teachers from Tulsa, Oklahoma.

    Academic text (1993)
  • The campaign manager hoped to bring around the voters to support their candidate.

  • After a long discussion, she was able to bring him around to her way of thinking.

  • The teacher tried to bring around the students to the importance of studying regularly.

Synonyms

to sway
vsto bring around
81 3.6

To cause someone to change their opinion or decision

is more about actively causing change rather than gentle influence
to change someone's mind
vsto bring around
18 3.0

Make someone think differently about something

is similar but emphasizes making someone adopt a different course of action
to bring round
vsto bring around
  • UK
4.4

To persuade someone to accept your idea or plan

is about causing change by another person's action rather than random shift
to bend someone's will
vsto bring around
7.1

Persuade someone to do what you want

is less about coercion and more about changing opinion by argument
to change someone's tune
vsto bring around
  • Informal
5.0

To have a different opinion after seeing new facts or benefits

is about another person causing the change rather than a reactive shift

Antonyms

35 6.0

To try to stop someone from doing something by talking to them

How Convinced

to convert
131 4.5
to bring around
  • Informal
3 3.6
to persuade
472 2.7
to suggest
1.6

Surface Forms

bring around infinitive
bringing around present participle
brings around third person singular
brought around past participle

Morphology

bring + around

The components 'bring' (cause or put into a state) and 'around' (movement/return) give a plausible metaphor of moving someone to a different position, so there is a partial, metaphorical link to 'persuade'. However, the specific sense 'cause someone to change their opinion' is an extended, conventionalized meaning that a B1 learner who only knows the literal words may not reliably infer (and the verb also has a separate sense 'revive'), so it is not fully transparent.

Etymology

Bring around may come from the image of using bring and around to turn someone so they face your view, as if moving them until they see your side. That's why it means 'to change someone's opinion'.