Meaning of bend someone's will | Babel Free

Definitions

To persuade or otherwise induce someone to change his or her views or to choose a different course of action.

idiomatic, transitive

Examples

“[W]hen Catherine tried to draw him to court by proposing a marriage between him and her youngest daughter Margaret, Jeanne left him at home, and went herself to court. Catherine tried in vain to bend her will.”

“[E]ven her love could not avail to bend his will. As if the hold of her arms was that of a child's he loosened it and stepped away.”

“Despite Shearer's insistence that he intends to hang up his scoring boots at the end of the season, Souness has pledged to keep pestering him to change his mind. Whether the Iron Laddie is for turning remains to be seen, but the pressure to bend his will is being applied from within the Newcastle dressing-room as well as from the manager's office.”

CEFR level