1
as in negotiating
to plan out usually with subtle skill or care
had to finesse the schedule a bit to fit in another patient that afternoon
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in avoiding
to get or keep away from (as a responsibility) through cleverness or trickery
tried to finesse the blame for the foreign policy fiasco, even though he was secretary of state at the time
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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Recent Examples of finessing
This being Nantucket, the team contended with stringent zoning regulations governing building footprints, rooflines, and window heights; finessing the layout felt like expert-level Tetris.
—
David Foxley, Architectural Digest, 8 Apr. 2026
Trump has a rare and underestimated talent for finessing these internal fissures.
—Jonathan Chait, The Atlantic, 12 Jan. 2026
This picks up any holding with both an honor and the nine onside, which outweighs the alternative play of finessing the 10.
—Deb Harvell, Arkansas Online, 12 Oct. 2025
The race to dominate the humanoid robotics market is as much about harvesting 3D data as finessing the nuts and bolts.
—Charlie Campbell, Time, 9 Oct. 2025
But no amount of finessing the Beetle—the automotive equivalent of a Birkenstock sandal—would turn VW’s ugly duckling into a swan.
—Robert Ross, Robb Report, 26 Sep. 2025
In traditional builds, this allows your PCI Express cards to be inserted straight down into the slot, rather than tilting the card and finessing its bracket through a rear-panel hole.
—PC Magazine, 14 Sep. 2025
But respect to Doja for finessing the fine points.
—Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 8 Sep. 2025
David Foxley, Architectural Digest, 8 Apr. 2026
Trump has a rare and underestimated talent for finessing these internal fissures.
—Jonathan Chait, The Atlantic, 12 Jan. 2026
This picks up any holding with both an honor and the nine onside, which outweighs the alternative play of finessing the 10.
—Deb Harvell, Arkansas Online, 12 Oct. 2025
The race to dominate the humanoid robotics market is as much about harvesting 3D data as finessing the nuts and bolts.
—Charlie Campbell, Time, 9 Oct. 2025
But no amount of finessing the Beetle—the automotive equivalent of a Birkenstock sandal—would turn VW’s ugly duckling into a swan.
—Robert Ross, Robb Report, 26 Sep. 2025
In traditional builds, this allows your PCI Express cards to be inserted straight down into the slot, rather than tilting the card and finessing its bracket through a rear-panel hole.
—PC Magazine, 14 Sep. 2025
But respect to Doja for finessing the fine points.
—Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 8 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for finessing
Verb
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In countries like Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, the push to develop local mineral value chains has taken the tone of negotiating higher equity stakes in mining projects for the government, accompanied by threats of seizures and hostile takeovers.—
Alexander Onukwue,
semafor.com,
24 Apr. 2026
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That may be easier said than done while negotiating airports and trekking across new terrain.—
Donna Vickroy,
Chicago Tribune,
24 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Oil revenue is the linchpin of Russia’s economy, allowing Putin to pour money into the armed forces without worsening inflation for everyday people and avoiding a currency collapse.—
Lorne Cook,
Los Angeles Times,
23 Apr. 2026
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Perez said long-term solutions include avoiding terrible real estate deals like the city’s purchase nearly a decade ago of a downtown office building on Ash Street that was filled with asbestos.—
David Garrick,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
23 Apr. 2026
Verb
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But even then, our team of artists got in there and just started manipulating things.—
Damon Wise,
Deadline,
20 Apr. 2026
-
The duo greatly expanded their sample library, ripping random melodies from thrift-store records and manipulating their own field recordings.—
Sadie Sartini Garner,
Pitchfork,
16 Apr. 2026
Verb
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According to police, the evading vehicle was later located and the driver was taken into police custody.—
Staff Report,
Hartford Courant,
22 Apr. 2026
-
Jarvis then spent eight years evading the FBI in Paris, London and Ibiza, after an industrial sized hash-smuggling operation went wrong.—
Richard Johnson,
New York Daily News,
19 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Ballmer steadfastly denies arranging the deal between Aspiration and Leonard, who by all accounts performed no duties for Aspiration.—
Steve Henson,
Los Angeles Times,
23 Apr. 2026
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Just three weeks ago, Vancouver Police reported five incidents involving a man allegedly robbing people after arranging to meet with him, to sell the suspect Pokémon cards.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
22 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The boy then raised his head and hit the floor, before briefly escaping, but Rodriguez then got on his back and held his arms behind him.—
Milena Malaver,
Miami Herald,
18 Apr. 2026
-
Dog tracking devices provide peace of mind for owners during travel, off-leash play, and for dogs prone to escaping.—
Jessie Quinn,
USA Today,
17 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The process is designed to keep a president at the helm, so the president doesn’t have to worry about his own appointees plotting against him, Kalt explained.—
Daniel C. Vock,
Chicago Tribune,
20 Apr. 2026
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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
Verb
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No, the blame falls on moderate Democrats, who knew darn well what progressives and progressivism represented but did nothing to prevent the radical left from engineering a takeover of their party.—
Chris Roemer,
Baltimore Sun,
16 Apr. 2026
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This lands inside a broader legitimacy collapse that elite universities have spent years engineering for themselves.—
Nick Lichtenberg,
Fortune,
16 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Finessing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/finessing. Accessed 27 Apr. 2026.
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