silver tongue
3
7.4
- noun
- Informal
:
lengua plateada
- With her silver tongue, she easily swayed the difficult audience.
- got a silver tongue
Examples
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His silver tongue convinced the crowd to support his proposal.
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Charlie, you got a silver tongue.
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" It's a fine silver tongue you ha'... and your father would be that proud of you.
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I see you got your silver tongue from your friend Beth S.
Blog text (21) -
"He had a silver tongue and could probably sell anything to anybody, almost like a snake-oil salesman."
Blog text (8) -
Oh, you are so right, and thanks to your smooth salesmanship and your silver tongue, I'm completely sold.
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In Game of Thrones, political skills can be as lethal as a sharpened sword, so never underestimate the power of a silver tongue to solve a critical situation!
Blog text (6) -
The politician was known for his silver tongue, which helped him win many debates.
Synonyms
20
6.1
The skill of speaking clearly and strongly to persuade people
13
5.0
Skill at speaking or writing in a pleasant, convincing way
The ability to speak easily and confidently to persuade people
The ability to speak ideas clearly when talking to others
How Persuasive
Surface Forms
Morphology
silver + tongue
The compound links 'silver' (a metal often used metaphorically to signal value, beauty or pleasantness) with 'tongue' (speech), so a vague sense of 'pleasant or notable speech' can be inferred from the parts. However, the specific meaning 'eloquent and highly persuasive' relies on a conventional metaphorical extension that may not be fully predictable to a B1 learner who has not encountered the idiom, so it is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Silver tongue comes from a simple image: the metal silver and the body part tongue, so it makes you think of words that are shiny, smooth and valuable. That's why having a silver tongue means 'being very good at speaking and convincing or charming people'.