finesse
Syllables: fin·esseUK/fɪˈnɛs/US/fɪˈnɛs/
finesse noun: a skill in the handling or manipulation of a situation.
Noun
finesse (countable and uncountable, plural finesses)
- A skill in the handling or manipulation of a situation.
- It is not impossible that this bold attempt to wrest from this State and Nation, so large and important a frontier territory; with the insidious arts, and unblushing finesse and chicanery, with which the British pretensions have been managed, may yet awaken the American people from their apathy on...1829, Moses Greenleaf, “Grants and Sales of Land”, in A Survey of the State of Maine, in Reference to Its Geographical Features, Statistics and Political Economy, Portland, Me.: Published by Shirley...
- When Lovat finally took the resolution of dispatching his son, with the best part of his clan, to the assistance of Charles Edward, a resolution which was not adopted without much hesitation and many misgivings, he feigned, with characteristic finesse, an apology for his march.1830, Walter Scott, chapter II, in Tales of a Grandfather; being Stories Taken from Scottish History. […] (Third Series), volume III, Edinburgh: […] [Ballantyne and Company, […]] for Cadell and Co....
- The property of having elegance, grace, refinement, or skill.
- An Indian known by the name of Silver Heels, from his superior agility, as well as his admirable finesse in the art of war, and who had killed more of the enemy than any one of the tribes in alliance with Great Britain, accidentally came into the fort just before the soldier was to receive his...1791, J[ohn] Long, “Visit Fort George.—Remarkable Instance of Courage in a Mohawk Indian.—Return to England.—Enter into a New Engagement, and Return to Canada, with Merchandise for the Indian...
- An adroit maneuver.
- The first inroads on our laws of incest were made at the instigation, and by the secret management, of some of our "prime nobles," who had either seduced, or married, or pledged themselves to marry a wife's sister; and who wished by this finesse, to escape, at once, public odium and personal...1836, S[ereno] E[dwards] Dwight, “The Law of Incest”, in The Hebrew Wife: Or The Law of Marriage Examined in Relation to the Lawfulness of Polygamy and to the Extent of the Law of Incest, New York...
- [A] simplified version of English, called Basic English, […] is mainly intended for tangibles like business and scientific cooperation, and the designer of which renounces the intention of catering for the finesses of cultural exchange or diplomacy.1984, Gregory Paul P. Meyjes, “An Auxiliary Language for the World: General Outline”, in The Choice of an Auxiliary Language for the World: Perspectives within the Context of Contemporary...
- In bridge, whist, etc.: a technique which allows one to win a trick, usually by playing a card when it is thought that a card that can beat it is held by another player whose turn is over.
- The Finesse Proper.—When, upon the invite of your partner, you refuse to force with your strongest card, or one of equal strength, you are in the case of the finesse proper. Holding the ace, queen, and ten, and taking with the queen, is a simple finesse; that is, a finesse to the king.1850, “Short Whist: Its System and Science”, in Henry G[eorge] Bohn, editor, The Hand-book of Games: Comprising New or Carefully Revised Treatises on Whist, Piquet, Ecarté, Lansquenet, Boston...
- Here we are going to examine finesses from a negative standpoint. Those players who take finesses wherever and whenever they appear will seldom give any thought to what might happen if the finesse were to lose. And this is why taking or shunning a finesse is an option which shouldn't be exercised...2013 October 22, Joe Blatnick, “Finesses (One More Time)”, in Bridge: A Thinker’s Game: How You Think is More Important than What and Thinking Comes before Doing, Bloomington, Ind.: AuthorHouse...
Verb
finesse (third-person singular simple present finesses, present participle finessing, simple past and past participle finessed)
- To evade (a problem, situation, etc.) by using some clever argument or stratagem.
- It is said that democratic institutions necessarily lead to political corruption. I can only say that it has not been so in this Colony. Members have schemed, finessed, log-rolled, to serve their districts, but never to put money in their own pockets.1876, “Government and Laws”, in William Harcus, editor, South Australia: Its History, Resources, and Productions, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, […], →OCLC, page 38
- The founders deliberately finessed other issues concerning religion and the relationship between church and state to ensure the ratification of the Constitution.2013, James F[ranklin] Harris, “The Supreme Court”, in The Serpentine Wall: The Winding Boundary between Church and State in the United States, New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, →ISBN...
- To handle or manage carefully or skilfully; to manipulate in a crafty way.
- Distressed as she was, she rose the next morning determined to contend with her feelings,—to think no more of Trevor,—and to finesse no more for a husband—she had had enough of it.1835, chapter XIV, in Finesse. … In Two Volumes, volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 240
- As the children continue to shoot one another, I ask them some questions about guns. […] [M]ost revealing to me is that the children fully agree that they are playing a pretend game. The bad guys "really hurt people" and Freddie knows it because he "plays" it. Really hurting in pretend play … the...2010 May, Kim Atkinson, “Working among the Good & Bad”, in Island Parent Magazine, Victoria, B.C.: Krayenhoff-Holland Enterprises, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 05 Feb 2019; quoted in...
- To obtain something from someone through trickery or manipulation.
- I was tryin'a finesse you outta them drawers, and you finessed a nigga out his heart," he said with a chuckle, "But that's cool. 'Cause I know it's in good hands."2020, Racquel Williams, Finessed a Dope Boy's Heart
- To attempt to win a trick by finessing.
- In the first round of a suit, you should generally, / 8. PLAY YOUR HIGHEST CARD THIRD HAND. / a. In order to strengthen your partner. You presume that he leads from his strong suit, and wants to get the winning cards of it out of his way[…]; you, therefore, do not finesse[…], but play your highest...1864, Cavendish [pseudonym; Henry Jones], “The Third Hand”, in The Laws and Principles of Whist Stated and Explained, and Its Practice Illustrated on an Original System, by Means of Hands Played...
- To play (a card) as a finesse.
- The ace is certainly to your left, you therefore finesse the ten, for if your left-hand adversary holds ace and knave he must make them both; but otherwise, your ten forces the ace, and you are left with the best.1864, Cavendish [pseudonym; Henry Jones], “The Third Hand”, in The Laws and Principles of Whist Stated and Explained, and Its Practice Illustrated on an Original System, by Means of Hands Played...
- Again, no amount of writing, and apparently no amount of practice, will induce a player to see that it is not always right to finesse an Ace Queen. We have seen all the trumps out. We have led a suit (Hearts) of which our partner had Ace, Queen, and two long Clubs; he finessed the Queen, and did...1874 March 1, “Whist Jottings—Stupidity”, in The Westminster Papers. A Monthly Journal of Chess, Whist, Games of Skill, and the Drama, volume VI, London: W. Kent & Co., […], and W. W. Morgan, […]...
- To play a ball out of the way of an opponent.
- Blue finesses to the further boundary, intending to come to his partner next time with black, hoping that if yellow comes after these balls, he may pass the boundary and so lose the break. […] Black has now to play; he finesses to another boundary.1870 August, Cavendish [pseudonym; Henry Jones], “Croquet in 1870”, in The Gentleman’s Magazine, volume V (New Series), London: W. H. Allen & Co., […], →OCLC, page 308
finesse meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
finesse in Hindi
- finesse
- परिष्कार pariṣkār
finesse in Tamil
- நேர்த்தி, நுட்பம்
finesse in Marathi
- बारीकपणा
finesse in Urdu
- باریکی, نفاست, تیکھا پن
More languagesFewer languages
- finesse in Bengali
- সূক্ষ্ম কৌশল, চাতুর্য, দক্ষতা, নিপুণতা
- finesse in Malayalam
- കൗശലം, ചാതുര്യം, വെെദഗ്ദ്ധ്യം, സമർത്ഥത
- finesse in Kannada
- ಹಸ್ತಕೌಶಲ, ಕೈಚಳಕ, ತಂತ್ರಕೌಶಲ, ಸೂಕ್ಷ್ಮ ವಿವೇಚನೆ
- finesse in Arabic
- بَرَاعَة barāʕa
Examples of finesse in a sentence
- Finesse is not exactly subtlety; we draw a person into a snare with finesse; we escape from it with subtlety.1836, De Voltaire, Abner Kneeland, “FINESSE, FINENESS, &c.: Of the Different Significations of This Word”, in [J[ohn] G. Gorton], transl....
- The Treaty of Madrid called into action the diplomatic finesse, or rather the low cunning of the English cabinet.1840, John Lingard, chapter I, in A History of England, from the First Invasion by the Romans. … Complete in Eight Volumes, 5th edition...
- Here we are going to examine finesses from a negative standpoint.2013 October 22, Joe Blatnick, “Finesses (One More Time)”, in Bridge: A Thinker’s Game: How You Think is More Important than What and...
- Almost miraculously, [risk-neutral valuation] finesses the problem that we know hardly anything about the risk aversion of the buyers and sellers of options.2018, John C. Hull, Options, Futures and Other Derivatives, 10th edition, Pearson, page 276:
Synonyms of finesse
Forms of finesse
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | finesses |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | finesses |
| present participle | finessing |
| past participle | finessed |
| past | finessed |
Origin of finesse
From Middle English finesse (“a degree of excellence; (of metal) fineness, purity”), from Middle French finesse, Old French finesse (“a fineness; a delicacy; slenderness”), from fine, fin (“fine, thin”) (from Latin fīnis (“an end”); compare Middle English fīn (“of superior quality; precious, valuable; admirable, pleasing; pure, refined; fineness, purity; delicate, exquisite, fine; sharp, thin”)) + -esse (suffix forming nouns describing the condition of being something). The verb is derived from the noun.
Words formed from finesse
Questions about finesse
- What does finesse mean?
- Finesse means a skill in the handling or manipulation of a situation.
- What is finesse in Hindi?
- Finesse in Hindi is परिष्कार (pariṣkār). See Finesse meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use finesse in a sentence?
- Finesse is not exactly subtlety; we draw a person into a snare with finesse; we escape from it with subtlety.
- What part of speech is finesse?
- Finesse can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce finesse?
- Finesse is pronounced /fɪˈnɛs/ (UK).
- What is the plural of finesse?
- The plural of finesse is finesses.
Words near finesse in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: finesse (page history and authors); परिष्कार (Hindi) (page history and authors); finesse (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); finesse (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); finesse (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Finesse (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); finesse (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); finesse (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-finesse.ogg.
Cite this entry: “finesse.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/finesse. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.