what is the difference between “convince” and “persuade”?

con·vince /kənˈvɪns/

Pronunciation[kuhn-vins]

verb (used with object), -vinced, -vinc·ing.

1. to move by argument or evidence to belief, agreement, consent, or a course of action: to convince a jury of his guilt; A test drive will convince you that this car handles well.

2. to persuade; cajole: We finally convinced them to have dinner with us.

3. Obsolete. to prove or find guilty.

4. Obsolete. to overcome; vanquish.

per·suade /pərˈsweɪd/

Pronunciation[per-sweyd]

verb (used with object), -suad·ed, -suad·ing.

1. to prevail on (a person) to do something, as by advising or urging: We could not persuade him to wait.

2. to induce to believe by appealing to reason or understanding; convince: to persuade the judge of the prisoner’s innocence.

Actually the word convince has a positive meaning and the word persuade has a negative meaning, but if you want to read more read this part:

Convince:

verb [T] Spoken: 2000 • Written: 3000

1 to make someone feel certain that something is true [convince sb (that)]:

• Bell’s evidence convinced us that the first reports were true.

• It will be hard to convince voters it was a badly written law. [convince sb of sth]:

• He’ll try to convince you of Mitchell’s innocence.

2 to persuade someone to do something [convince sb to do sth]:

• Kevin convinced Lee Ann to go to the country club dance with him.

Persuade:

verb [T] Written: 3000

1 to make someone decide to do something, especially by giving them reasons why they should do it, or asking them many times to do it [persuade sb to do sth]:

• I tried to persuade Freddie to see her. [persuade sb]:

• Leo wouldn’t agree, despite our efforts to persuade him.

2 to make someone believe something or feel sure about something:

• Maguire said he was not persuaded by criticisms in the media. [persuade sb (that)]:

• She’ll only take me back if I can persuade her that I’ve changed. [persuade sb of sth]:

• McFadden must now persuade the jury of her innocence.

I think (without looking in a dictionary) that to “convince” someone is like trying to get your idea across to that person and “persuade” is trying to get a person to do or or say something.

when u convince then the person understands ur point and acts as if willingly but when u persuade it’s more like u r getting something done by the person which he doesn’t agree with.

not much difference though in day-to-day conversations

convince = to make someone say, accept or do something by giving reasons. convincing is not forcing but giving reasons to make someone say or do something.
persuade= to make someone say or accept or do something by giving various reasons repeatedly until they accept to do it. Persuation is kind of gentle forcing through reason and persistence.

You convince someone to believe.

You persuade someone to act.

two words with same meaning.