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win over

B1 neutral separable transitive
In simple words

To make someone change their mind and start liking or supporting you.

Literal meaning: To win someone so they come over to your side — a transparent spatial metaphor.

Meanings

1 B1 idiomatic neutral

To persuade someone who was previously neutral or opposed to support you, like you, or agree with your ideas.

"The candidate's honest answers in the debate won over many undecided voters."

"We won over the American people because we told them the truth."

— Bill Clinton, Democratic National Convention speech, 1996
Grammar: separable
2 B1 idiomatic neutral

To gain the affection or enthusiasm of an audience through a performance or personal appeal.

"The young comedian completely won over the tough crowd with her opening joke."

Grammar: separable
Usage notes

One of the most common and widely used phrasal verbs in this semantic area. Works in all contexts: personal, political, commercial. The object is always a person or group. Very common in political and business discourse.

Commonly used with

voters audience sceptics critics customers crowd

Forms

Base
win over
I/you/we/they
3rd person
wins over
he/she/it
Past simple
won over
yesterday
Past participle
won over
have + pp
-ing form
winning over
continuous

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