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
Relevance
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
But respect to Doja for finessing the fine points.
—
Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 8 Sep. 2025
Instead of spending hours polishing, buffing and finessing the exterior to look shipshape, the crew can focus on enhancing the guest experience or supporting any scientific research happening on board.
—Michael Verdon, Robb Report, 11 Aug. 2025
Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 8 Sep. 2025
Instead of spending hours polishing, buffing and finessing the exterior to look shipshape, the crew can focus on enhancing the guest experience or supporting any scientific research happening on board.
—Michael Verdon, Robb Report, 11 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for finessing
Verb
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Traditional approaches focus on financial engineering such as negotiating discounts for long-term commitments, or on observability tools that track who is running what.—
Matthew Kayser,
USA Today,
13 Sep. 2025
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The Teamsters announced on Facebook late Friday that their negotiating team has a tentative agreement for members to vote on, ending the strike and allowing next weekend’s Farm Aid concert to continue as planned at the U’s Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.—
Kristi Miller,
Twin Cities,
13 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Adam Kron, a senior attorney at the environmental advocacy group Earthjustice, said any company ignoring or avoiding regulations entirely reminds him of the fracking boom in the early 2010s, when companies moved quickly to drill, poisoning some local communities’ groundwater in the process.—
Taylor Kate Brown,
ProPublica,
17 Sep. 2025
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Build Money-Saving Habits For George Morgan-Grenville, founder of the luxury travel company Red Savannah, avoiding chaos often comes down to avoiding unnecessary fees.—
Alesandra Dubin,
Southern Living,
17 Sep. 2025
Verb
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His powers included manipulating fire, engulfing his body in flames, superhuman strength and flying.—
Olivia Singh,
Forbes.com,
18 Sep. 2025
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Sanders, in a motion to the court, accused the initial prosecutor in the case, Tony Rackauckas, of manipulating evidence dealing with jailhouse informants.—
Tony Saavedra,
Oc Register,
17 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The shooter fled on a bike, riding it into Central Park, evading capture and prompting a dayslong manhunt.—
Matt Lavietes,
NBC news,
16 Sep. 2025
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Villa have enjoyed a successful style, evading risk and playing with precision.—
Jacob Tanswell,
New York Times,
11 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Foster a culture of inclusion, for example, by arranging monthly or quarterly get-togethers between your in-house team and your freelancers.—
Jessica Wong,
Forbes.com,
18 Sep. 2025
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Martha Stewart suggests using half of the pristine pecan halves on top of the filling, arranging them in concentric circles.—
Cathy Thomas,
Oc Register,
15 Sep. 2025
Verb
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In that film, Redford plays Forrest Tucker, a real-life career criminal known for escaping from prison several times and for committing a string of audacious bank robberies well into his later years.—
Hannah Parry
Amanda Castro,
MSNBC Newsweek,
16 Sep. 2025
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The Earth saw a strong geomagnetic storm Sunday night, NOAA reported, reaching a G3 (on a scale of 5) due to the impact of solar winds escaping from a cooler, dense region of the Sun.—
Zachary Folk,
Forbes.com,
16 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Legal woes Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro was just convicted of plotting to overturn an election and sentenced to more than 27 years in prison.—
Daniel Wine,
CNN Money,
17 Sep. 2025
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In 2022, in Los Angeles, political leaders were exposed for plotting to carve up districts in backroom deals.—
Bernadette Suarez,
Oc Register,
15 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Rather than engineering microorganisms to speed up methane consumption, Stein values working with naturally occurring microbes and ecosystems.—
Katherine Bourzac,
Quanta Magazine,
15 Sep. 2025
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The Animal Crossing decompilation community had just finished reverse-engineering the game's source code, providing readable C instead of PowerPC assembly.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
12 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Finessing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/finessing. Accessed 20 Sep. 2025.
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