Convince, v. t. [imp. & p.p. Convinced; p.pr. & vb.n. Convincing.]
Etymology: [L. convincere, -victum, to refute, prove; con- + vincere to conquer. See Victor, and cf. Convict.]
1. To overpower; to overcome; to subdue or master. [Obs.] His two chamberlains Will I with wine and wassail so convince That memory, the warder of the brain, Shall be a fume. Shak.
2. To overcome by argument; to force to yield assent to truth; to satisfy by proof. Such convincing proofs and assurances of it as might enable them to convince others. Atterbury.
3. To confute; to prove the fallacy of. [Obs.] God never wrought miracle to convince atheism, because his ordinary works convince it. Bacon.
4. To prove guilty; to convinct. [Obs.] Which of you convinceth me of sin John viii. 46. Seek not to convince me of a crime Which I can ne'er repent, nor you can pardon. Dryden.
1 more senses
Syn. -- To persuade; satisfy; convict. -- To Convince, persuade. To convince is an act of the understanding; to persuade, of the will or feelings. The one is effected by argument, the other by motives. There are cases, however, in which persuade may seem to be used in reference only to the assent of the understanding; as when we say, I am persuaded it is so; I can not persuade myself of the fact. But in such instances there is usually or always a degree of awakened feeling which has had its share in producing the assent of the understanding.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for convince; he lists it under persuade.
Where he writes about it:
A person is convicted when his guilt is made clearly manifest to others; in somewhat archaic use, a person is said to be convicted when guilt is brought clearly home to his own conscience (convict in this sense being allied with convince, which see under persuade); in legal usage one is said to be convicted only by the verdict of a jury. — from condemn
Of these words convince alone has no direct reference to moving the will, denoting an effect upon the understanding only; one may be convinced of his duty without doing it, or he may be convinced of truth that has no manifest connection with duty or action, as of a mathematical proposition. — from persuade
To persuade is to bring the will of another to a desired decision by some influence exerted upon it short of compulsion; one may be convinced that the earth is round; he may be persuaded to travel round it; but persuasion is so largely dependent upon conviction that it is commonly held to be the orator's work first to convince in order that he may persuade. — from persuade