How to Use finesse in a Sentence

finesse

1 of 2 noun
  • She handled the interview questions with finesse.
  • When the heart finesse wins, South plays safe in trumps.
    Frank Stewart, The Mercury News, 5 Feb. 2024
  • South will have a chance to go wrong by taking the club finesse.
    Frank Stewart, The Mercury News, 8 Feb. 2024
  • Includes the finesse of a Sauternes and the delicate fruit of a Friuli.
    Tom Mullen, Forbes, 31 July 2022
  • There’s not a full kitchen here, but the menu has an admirable amount of finesse to it.
    Soleil Ho, San Francisco Chronicle, 17 Nov. 2022
  • The humor of it for me was that Shanice has no finesse.
    Selome Hailu, Variety, 23 May 2022
  • South wins the next heart with the jack and finesses in diamonds.
    Frank Stewart, The Mercury News, 19 Jan. 2024
  • Pizza dough is an art and science that takes a whole lot of finesse.
    Dana McMahan, The Courier-Journal, 14 June 2022
  • Both will feed crowds, and both reveal a finesse in which the sweet seafood inside the cleaved shells remains lush.
    Bill Addison, Los Angeles Times, 20 July 2023
  • But the playoffs are a grittier brand of ball, and the Warriors do seem to get smaller and lighter and more finesse-y by the day.
    Scott Ostler, San Francisco Chronicle, 24 Apr. 2022
  • The puffy wide satin band holds everything in place, and adds an extra bit of finesse to any look.
    Halie Lesavage, Harper's BAZAAR, 22 Dec. 2022
  • As such, the vessel showcases true made in Italy flair and finesse.
    Rachel Cormack, Robb Report, 15 Feb. 2024
  • The kitchen has finesse, a honed sense of gustatory rhythm.
    Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 12 Oct. 2022
  • Porzingis is a finesse big with the ability to post and shoot over defenders, not go through them.
    Gary Washburn, BostonGlobe.com, 22 June 2023
  • Smith is more of a finesse player, who relies on three-point shooting and pull-up jumpers to mark his path.
    Morten Jensen, Forbes, 30 Apr. 2022
  • No one in Los Angeles had approached mariscos with quite the same merging of soul and finesse.
    Bill Addison, Los Angeles Times, 13 June 2023
  • The result is a reel with the finesse needed to land the smallest native, but with enough horsepower to tame the largest steelhead.
    Morgan Lyle, Field & Stream, 4 May 2023
  • If that film can even remotely approach the somber blockbuster finesse of the Matt Reeves films, there could be hope.
    Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 11 Nov. 2023
  • Tubelis is a versatile big man that can beat you with finesse or power.
    Los Angeles Times, 7 Mar. 2023
  • Sacrificed in that policy was some of the breadth and finesse that comes running the equipment in pairs.
    Zachariah Hughes, Anchorage Daily News, 24 Dec. 2022
  • The feat has been attempted countless times, once with finesse.
    Stacy Schiff, WSJ, 17 Feb. 2023
  • Large strollers and rollers may require some angling finesse.
    Elana Scherr, Car and Driver, 4 Oct. 2022
  • Suman, on the other hand, has etched out the concept with utter competence and finesse.
    Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 14 Feb. 2024
  • Not so easy now, where a return to more finesse, timing, and pace would also be welcome.
    Tara Sullivan, BostonGlobe.com, 27 Feb. 2023
  • The cookie has a finesse to it, well balanced, not overly sweet and with the toffee notes of brown butter throughout.
    Jenn Harris, Los Angeles Times, 9 Oct. 2023
  • Better yet, the best linen shirts for men do more than just keep you dry upstairs—they’ll add a dash of unflappable finesse to any look.
    Bernd Fischer, Men's Health, 2 Aug. 2022
  • That’s the background tragedy that spurs the bereft woodcarver — voiced with crusty finesse by David Bradley — to one night drunkenly build a spindly boy out of pine.
    Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 8 Nov. 2022
  • South wins, returns a heart to dummy and finesses in clubs, winning at least nine tricks.
    Frank Stewart, The Mercury News, 30 Jan. 2024
  • Such finesse can be seen on the vase in question, which is resplendent with depictions of clouds, cranes, fans, flutes, and bats.
    Jane Recker, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 May 2022
  • The hue comes in a range of intensities and nuances that add a designer-like finesse to any decor.
    Jessica Bennett, Better Homes & Gardens, 8 Aug. 2023
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finesse

2 of 2 verb
  • She is just trying to finesse the issue.
  • He managed to finesse a deal through bargaining.
  • At 3NT South took the ace of spades and led the ten of clubs to finesse.
    Frank Stewart, The Mercury News, 1 June 2017
  • Of course, there are all sorts of ways to finesse cap numbers.
    Kevin Sherrington, Dallas News, 7 Mar. 2021
  • His hands are known for fighting, not finesse around the net.
    Helene St. James, Detroit Free Press, 18 Feb. 2018
  • So the Cynic shrugged, drew trumps and led a club to finesse with dummy’s queen.
    Frank Stewart, The Mercury News, 7 July 2019
  • In his 15 years at C/D, he's learned how to strap the test gear to cars and finesse them to get the best possible times.
    Tony Quiroga, Car and Driver, 7 Oct. 2022
  • There were rules to the game, of course, ways to finesse a certain look and attitude.
    Jason Parham, Los Angeles Times, 16 Sep. 2021
  • Tahj Staveskie showed strong ball-handling, court awareness and finesse around the rim.
    Tyler J. Davis, Detroit Free Press, 14 Mar. 2021
  • Even your own staff never learned to finesse that aspect of the business.
    BostonGlobe.com, 23 Aug. 2021
  • When West discarded, South took the ace of hearts and finessed with dummy’s jack.
    Frank Stewart, The Mercury News, 4 Feb. 2024
  • Stylez took a few strands and finessed them into two swirly loops, one near each temple, to complete the style.
    Gabi Thorne, Allure, 13 Mar. 2023
  • Frenck said there wasn't any time -- nor any reason -- to finesse the dosing last year.
    Maggie Fox, CNN, 22 Sep. 2021
  • For about a decade, the tax abatements and legal loopholes that Trump was able to finesse came about, in large part, because of Cohn.
    Marie Brenner, The Hive, 4 July 2017
  • The backup big man tried to finesse the ball into the basket to beat the game clock, but even that point-blank attempt rattled out at the buzzer.
    Tom Green | Tgreen@al.com, al, 11 Mar. 2022
  • Declarer finessed with dummy’s queen — and had a calamity: East won and led a trump, and West took the jack, king and ace and led his last trump.
    Frank Stewart, The Mercury News, 15 Jan. 2024
  • Then, my producers and I read it back and finessed it some and read it together.
    Michael Schneider, Variety, 2 Aug. 2023
  • If clubs broke 4-1, Louie would finesse in diamonds, winning 12 tricks if East had the queen.
    Frank Stewart, The Mercury News, 5 June 2019
  • Julius Randle and RJ Barrett, the team’s two best players, prefer to barrel to the hoop rather than finesse a foul.
    Stefan Bondy, courant.com, 31 Oct. 2021
  • Krutwig is an old-school big man who uses his footwork and finesse over jump-out-of-the-gym athleticism.
    Scott Gleeson, USA TODAY, 21 Mar. 2021
  • So, with the brand-new eighth-gen iPad (starting at $329), Apple continues to finesse it.
    Jacob Krol, CNN Underscored, 24 Sep. 2020
  • Not all Republicans have been so quick to finesse their stances.
    Katie Glueck, New York Times, 12 Oct. 2022
  • You fish for tips on how to finesse a job promotion or find a cool, cheap vacation.
    Maria Panaritis, Philly.com, 13 Dec. 2017
  • A Junior Olympic sized pool with dedicated lap lanes is a great place to finesse your freestyle.
    Lee Ann James, Orange County Register, 3 Feb. 2017
  • The human quality of these clothes gave Jones’s finesse a fresh sweetness.
    Rachel Tashjian, Harper's BAZAAR, 11 Sep. 2022
  • This all comes at a time when the foreign affairs menu is adding hearty entrees that will take time, resources, and finesse to tackle.
    Tovin Lapan, Fortune, 23 Aug. 2019
  • Leaving statutes vague, however, has been a way for Congress to finesse fights.
    John Schwartz, New York Times, 15 Oct. 2020
  • In a studio filled with mannequins and old Singer sewing machines, Anyah Lewis, a senior, finessed a set of plastic moth wings.
    Alex Vadukul, New York Times, 31 May 2023
  • The process may inspire him to finesse the curve of an incision line, say, or tweak the dimensions of a breast or the placement of a belly button.
    Jolene Edgar, Allure, 1 Dec. 2023
  • Tesla hopes the mix will help it finesse one of the hardest tasks of all: attracting AI engineers in a stretched market.
    Aarian Marshall, Wired, 20 Aug. 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'finesse.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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