persuade - means to suceed in causing someone to do something. it doesn't necessarily mean that the person is convinced. examples are: a salesman persuades you to buy something a marketing agent persuades you to taste their new recipe you are persuaded by your friend to sign up for a gym class convince - means to make someone believe (when one is convinced, it is easier to persuade) you will find in the dictionary/thesaurus that the two words are synonyms (i tried it with MS Word thesaurus, and they are synonyms) but synonyms means the two are the same OR very similar. in this case, the words are similar but not exactly the same

Hello Mike :) Persuade is when one leads someone else to entertain a certain belief or to agree to a certain course of action through an argument,that one holds as an opinion.The other being persuaded is mostly in a neutral state regarding the action or belief. He/she doesn't deny it, yet doesn't hold it as an opinion Convince is also to lead someone through argumentation to do or believe something, but in a sense of overcoming a denial from his/her side or to prove he/she is wrong and should do or believe else. The one convinced is either in a state of denial or is already sticking to a certain opinion and is in the course of entertaining the other notion presented by the one trying to convince him/her.

According to a traditional rule, one persuades someone to act but convinces someone of the truth of a statement or proposition: 'By convincing me that no good could come of staying, he persuaded me to leave.' *from Dictionary.com

Nowadays I think they could be used interchangably; however it's worth looking at the etymology if you want to define any difference... they both come from latin, yet "persuade" may refer to urging someone, while "convice" refers to conquering (by argument). www.etymonline.com