What does wooing mean?
Wooing is the activity of seeking to win another person's love or favorable attention, especially through the attentions and persuasion expected of a suitor. In literal use, it describes courtship: a person woos a lover, expresses admiration, and tries to secure affection or marriage. In figurative use, wooing means persuading people or organizations to choose, trust, or support the wooer. A politician may woo voters, a startup may woo investors, and a campaign may woo public approval. The word often carries a literary or slightly old-fashioned flavor when used romantically, while figurative applications can sound attractive, strategic, or even ironic when persuasion is excessive. As a noun, “wooing” names that process; as a verb form, it refers to an ongoing act of seeking favor. Compared with the broader “courting,” wooing emphasizes deliberate efforts to win someone, and compared with “seducing,” it does not necessarily imply deception or sexual intent.
To seek to win someone's romantic affection or favorable attention, especially as a suitor; by extension, to try to persuade someone to offer support, approval, custom, or investment.
"They courted for years before wooing an audience with a new stage production."
The verbal form is commonly used in both romantic and figurative contexts.
The act or process of trying to win someone's love, favor, support, or attention.
"Her skill at the wooing of skeptical voters was evident in every campaign."
The noun is less frequent than the verbal form and is often literary in literal courtship contexts.
A regular but relatively uncommon plural, chiefly used when referring to distinct acts of seeking favor or affection.
"His various wooings of publishers never resulted in a contract."
Wooing is courtship as strategy: attraction, attention, and persuasion all aimed at winning favor.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does wooing come from?
Wooing is formed from woo, which came through Middle English from Old English wōn, an older word associated with custom or practice. By the late Middle English period, woo was being used in the sense of seeking a lover's favor, with the modern -ing form later acquiring both verbal and noun uses. Its Germanic relatives include forms behind English words such as wane, wander, and wanton, although the precise semantic route from the older sense of custom to courtship is not entirely transparent.
Related word forms
How wooing is actually used
The literal sense has a literary, romantic, and sometimes slightly old-fashioned tone, though it remains readily understood. The figurative sense is especially common in political, commercial, and promotional contexts and can become ironic when the pursuit of favor seems calculated or excessive.
Easily confused with wooing
Wooing means seeking affection or favor, whereas woeing means mourning or expressing grief.