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
Relevance
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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
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
-
Unlike their peers in other major leagues, NBA players can invest in sports gambling companies and advertise for them, a right negotiated in the 2023 collective bargaining agreement.—
Mike Vorkunov,
New York Times,
18 Feb. 2026
-
In recent weeks, Baker McKenzie, a white-shoe law firm, axed 700 employees, Salesforce sacked hundreds of workers, and the auditing firm KPMG negotiated lower fees with its own auditor.—
Annie Lowrey,
The Atlantic,
18 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
To sum up the series finale’s key moments, in the college timeline, Bree (Cat Missal), in a rage of anger after finding out that Lucy (Grace Van Patten) was the person Evan (Branden Cook) had cheated with, releases the tape of Lucy admitting to lying about being raped.—
Emily Longeretta,
Variety,
17 Feb. 2026
-
Ustyugov was also a part of the Russian relay team that won the gold medal in the Sochi Olympics in 2014 and was found to have cheated ahead of that season as well.—
Matthew Futterman,
New York Times,
11 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
Cribs, rollaways, and babysitting can be arranged.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
22 Feb. 2026
-
But vanishingly few have the equipment and technical know-how for traditional letterpress printing, in which individual letters on wood or metal ‘type’ blocks are arranged into words, inked up and physically pressed onto paper.—
Jared Kaufman,
Twin Cities,
21 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
Both reflect on their experience and say they felt manipulated and vulnerable.—
Kelly Lawler,
USA Today,
16 Feb. 2026
-
Do not let our youth be manipulated by agents of chaos into participating in protests, jeopardizing their education and future.—
Eleanor Dearman,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
14 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
This is the question explored in The War Room, which examines Bill Clinton's presidential bid via the proxies of James Carville and George Stephanopoulos, who ran his campaign and engineered its success in an outsized way.—
Eric Farwell,
Entertainment Weekly,
21 Feb. 2026
-
The setup relies on a breakaway safety clasp, a small mechanism engineered to pop open under force to prevent strangulation, like the badge lanyards at any conference.—
Eric Sullivan,
Scientific American,
21 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Finagled.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/finagled. Accessed 22 Feb. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
