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
In Europe with friends, Reed finagled his way into the Venice Film Festival in 1965 and interviewed Buster Keaton and Jean-Paul Belmondo.
—
Duane Byrge, HollywoodReporter, 12 May 2026
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
Duane Byrge, HollywoodReporter, 12 May 2026
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for finagled
Verb
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The police negotiated the release of two hostages on Tuesday.—
Escher Walcott,
PEOPLE,
3 June 2026
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In fact, the city would be adopting a version of the reform agreement Louisville had previously negotiated with the Biden administration and hiring an outside monitor to oversee its progress.—
Topher Sanders,
ProPublica,
2 June 2026
Verb
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However, instead of wrapping up storylines neatly, the series' final episode created more questions, and left many feeling cheated of a firm resolution.—
Julie Tremaine,
PEOPLE,
23 May 2026
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There’s a rule and Saints cheated in the play-offs, a separate competition.—
Jordan Campbell,
New York Times,
21 May 2026
Verb
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The five-bedroom estate is arranged around a central pool courtyard, creating a private interior world of gardens, shaded terraces and open-air gathering spaces.—
Spencer Elliott,
Forbes.com,
6 June 2026
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Police in Las Vegas arranged for him to be arrested and then extradited to California, Clark said.—
Saleen Martin,
USA Today,
5 June 2026
Verb
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But Cepeda and Petro on Sunday night sowed doubt in the result and claimed — so far without evidence — that hundreds of thousands of votes were manipulated and that foreign actors interfered with the result.—
Megan Janetsky,
Los Angeles Times,
1 June 2026
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This person set him up and was manipulated in many ways.—
Laura Sirikul,
Forbes.com,
1 June 2026
Verb
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Since Roboto was mechanically engineered, the humanitarian android carries the altruistic Aquarian sentiment.—
Lisa Stardust,
PEOPLE,
5 June 2026
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This episode of Galaxy Brain was produced by Renee Klahr and engineered by Miguel Carrascal.—
Charlie Warzel,
The Atlantic,
5 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Finagled.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/finagled. Accessed 8 Jun. 2026.
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