1
as in negotiating
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 cheating
to use dishonest methods to achieve a goal
she'll finagle until she gets exactly what she wants
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Recent Examples of finagling
Other songs are less terminally online and more reminiscent of finagling fake IDs and getting blitzed on the LES.
—
Lydia Wei, Pitchfork, 20 Feb. 2026
Lydia Wei, Pitchfork, 20 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for finagling
Verb
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Iranian media outlets are portraying the development as a victory for Tehran’s negotiating position, claiming that Iran’s insistence on linking progress in talks with Washington to a ceasefire in Lebanon compelled the United States and Israel to agree to a ceasefire there.—
CNN staff,
CNN Money,
17 Apr. 2026
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Documents entered in court on Thursday show that the man’s lawyers and prosecutors have been negotiating a deal, though the terms and just what Bryant would be admitting to aren’t yet known.—
Kory Grow,
Rolling Stone,
17 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Naumann also did Loughlin’s hair for this March outing, which marked the mother and daughters’ first red-carpet appearance together since the 2019 college admissions cheating scandal.—
Bailey Richards,
PEOPLE,
18 Apr. 2026
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Just days before the Love Island USA Season 7 reunion aired, cheating rumors began circulating online.—
Allison DeGrushe,
StyleCaster,
16 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Clayton Seigle, a senior fellow in the Energy Security and Climate Change Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told ABC News that spoofing or manipulating the tracking system can obscure a vessel's origins, destination and cargo.—
Bill Hutchinson,
ABC News,
16 Apr. 2026
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Of course, Butcher does a lot of blatant manipulating here, using Ryan’s insecurity about his deadly powers to convince him the world is better without supes altogether.—
Ben Rosenstock,
Vulture,
15 Apr. 2026
Verb
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But these three high school students aren't arranging bouquets in a floral shop.—
Bo Evans,
CBS News,
17 Apr. 2026
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In the city center, the five-star boutique Anthology of Athens by the award-winning Elastic Architects has been arranging secluded luxury stays steps from the Acropolis since late 2024.—
Yulia Denisyuk,
Robb Report,
16 Apr. 2026
Verb
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When reentry occurs, Orion's service module responsible for propelling and maneuvering the vehicle through space will separate and burn up, exposing the crew module's heat shield that protects the astronauts from the 3,000-degree Fahrenheit conditions the vehicle will endure.—
Eric Lagatta,
USA Today,
10 Apr. 2026
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The glide phase allows maneuvering within the atmosphere.—
Aamir Khollam,
Interesting Engineering,
10 Apr. 2026
Verb
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There are also engineering challenges.—
Rupendra Brahambhatt,
Interesting Engineering,
11 Apr. 2026
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What was more of a challenge than engineering the chip itself was figuring out the details of actually making the chip project images and videos.—
IEEE Spectrum,
IEEE Spectrum,
9 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Orbán also leaves behind a fiscal mess, which the analyst Dalibor Rohac suggests Orbán might be happy to abandon while plotting his comeback.—
Anne Applebaum,
The Atlantic,
13 Apr. 2026
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Writing the book was a delight, from research to character development to plotting to drafting.—
Lee Kelly,
PEOPLE,
12 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Finagling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/finagling. Accessed 20 Apr. 2026.
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