Basic Details
Word: Convincing
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Able to make people believe that something is true or right.
Synonyms: believable, persuasive, powerful, credible
Antonyms: unconvincing, weak, doubtful
How to Spell Convincing
Syllables: con - vinc - ing
Tricky part: Convince drops its final e before ing, but the c stays: convinc-ing. Students write convinceing or convinsing.
Watch out for: convinceing, convinsing, convincin
Memory tip: Like dance becoming dancing, convince lets go of its e before ing, and the c stays in place.
Usage Examples
Example 1: She gave a convincing reason for coming late.
Example 2: The actor's tears looked so convincing that the audience went silent.
Example 3: Our team won the debate with a convincing argument about plastic bags.
Fun Fact
In a criminal trial in India, the case must be proved beyond reasonable doubt, which means the evidence has to be convincing enough to leave no sensible doubt.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the word closest in meaning to convincing as used in the sentence:
The detective in the novel pieced together a convincing explanation of how the necklace disappeared.
a) strange
b) weak
c) long
d) believable
Show answer
d) believable. A convincing explanation is believable; weak would mean the opposite.
Mingle-Mangle
The jumbled word in the sentence hides a real word. Choose it:
The lawyer's closing argument was so gnicvonnic that even the judge nodded.
a) convening
b) convincing
c) continuing
d) conniving
Show answer
b) convincing. Rearranged, the letters give convincing; conniving and convening are each missing the second c.
Word Cookie
Insert the correct pair of letters to form a word:
conv_n_ing
a) e, c
b) i, s
c) i, c
d) e, s
Show answer
c) i, c. The vowel after v is i, and the soft sound before ing stays a c.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A convincing story is one that ____.
a) nobody understands
b) is very short
c) people can easily believe
d) has no ending
Show answer
c) people can easily believe
2. Which word is the opposite of convincing?
a) believable
b) credible
c) persuasive
d) unconvincing
Show answer
d) unconvincing
