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
Example Sentences
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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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As officials negotiated over how to permanently end the war in Iran, a separate plan emerged to break the shipping bottleneck through the Strait of Hormuz.
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Some, like Santa Clarita, have come to the table and already negotiated a settlement.
Verb
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Revote to be held in Hempstead Candidate Caprice Rines said she and the two others vying for the seat have been cheated.
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The fans were cheated Sunday out of a chance to see an interesting pitching matchup between Shota Imanaga and Dylan Cease, the former Cubs farmhand and former White Sox pitcher.
Verb
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The Live Nation website arranged on a laptop in New York, US, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024.
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As visitors like Fulkerson settled into folding chairs arranged along the same grassy knoll where John Brown and his followers fought their way into the red-brick armory, Kerwin rose, stepped to the microphone and looked out at the crowd gathered before her.
Verb
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In April 2026, the New England Journal of Medicine retracted a paper after discovering that a clinical image had been manipulated with AI.
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Predictive markets, like sports betting, can be manipulated.
Verb
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Lagree’s Megaformer, introduced in the early 2000s, uses two sliding platforms and is engineered for higher-intensity work that builds muscular endurance.
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Ys was co-produced by orchestral pop trailblazer Van Dyke Parks and engineered by punk icon Steve Albini, the only time those two prolific legends worked on the same album.
Cite this Entry
“Finagled.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/finagled. Accessed 1 Jul. 2026.
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