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
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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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The reportedly yearlong relationship is notable in that, after their split in 2015, Stocking posted and deleted tweets saying the basketball player cheated, per The New York Post.—
Taijuan Moorman,
USA Today,
27 Apr. 2026
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This is the same team that cheated and got caught how many times, going back to Bill Belichick and golden boy Tom Brady (Deflategate)?—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
26 Apr. 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
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Gas prices can be manipulated by war, the market or the discretion of how much oil companies want to refine.—
Kaitlyn Schallhorn,
Oc Register,
4 May 2026
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And getting back to the Jewish donors who supposedly manipulated Ferguson’s efforts to block mid-cycle congressional districting.—
Howard Libit,
Baltimore Sun,
3 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 11 May. 2026.
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