1
as in negotiated
to plan out usually with subtle skill or care
let me look at my schedule and see if I can't finagle a visit to the museum
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in cheated
to use dishonest methods to achieve a goal
she'll finagle until she gets exactly what she wants
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Recent Examples of finagled
On Sunday, August 10, the JoBros kicked off their Jonas20 tour in New Jersey, with Nick telling the audience that after Joe landed a lead role in the Disney Channel Original Movie, their dad finagled a way for Kevin and Nick to get parts as well.
—
Elizabeth Logan, Glamour, 11 Aug. 2025
This whole thing seems staged, planned, finagled, massaged, bamboozled, lollygagged, and all sorts of other long, silly-sounding words that may not necessarily apply to this situation.
—Brian Moylan, Vulture, 7 Aug. 2025
Elizabeth Logan, Glamour, 11 Aug. 2025
This whole thing seems staged, planned, finagled, massaged, bamboozled, lollygagged, and all sorts of other long, silly-sounding words that may not necessarily apply to this situation.
—Brian Moylan, Vulture, 7 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for finagled
Verb
-
These are trade-offs that can be negotiated, at both the local and national levels, to benefit our communities.—
Gideon Lewis-Kraus,
New Yorker,
7 May 2026
-
His presence caused periodic traffic jams as Washington police closed lanes and negotiated with him.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
6 May 2026
Verb
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Even at Princeton, obviously, some students have always cheated.—
Rose Horowitch,
The Atlantic,
12 May 2026
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To the curry-sphere and beyond Iyer cheated a touch with the book’s title because some chapters exist outside of the sauce world.—
Scott Hocker,
TheWeek,
11 May 2026
Verb
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After Spirit Airlines ceased operations, in the middle of the night on May 2nd, a series of canary-yellow airplanes sat on the tarmac at Newark Airport, arranged neatly like children’s toys at day’s end.—
Doreen St. Félix,
New Yorker,
9 May 2026
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According to the victim, the suspect arranged the meeting and provided Davenport's address as the exchange location before stealing the laptop and running away.—
Abby Dodge,
CBS News,
9 May 2026
Verb
-
Defense attorneys argued at trial that the investigation into the assassination was a mess and that the four were manipulated into taking blame for an internal coup.—
David Fischer,
Sun Sentinel,
8 May 2026
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These were teenagers, and they were manipulated.—
Nancy Dillon,
Rolling Stone,
8 May 2026
Verb
-
The jury found the algorithms are intentionally engineered to exploit the developing brains of children.—
Mercury News & East Bay Times Editorial Boards,
Mercury News,
8 May 2026
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Reports claimed that engines in this class are engineered to provide extreme acceleration, sustained supersonic flight capability, and high maneuverability during air combat operations.—
Prabhat Ranjan Mishra,
Interesting Engineering,
8 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Finagled.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/finagled. Accessed 13 May. 2026.
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