HOW TO PRONOUNCE
finesse
/fɪˈnɛs/
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American Pronunciation Guide · 0:47
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What does finesse mean?
noun
- A skill in the handling or manipulation of a situation.
- The property of having elegance, grace, refinement, or skill.
- An adroit maneuver.
More meanings (7)
noun
- 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.
verb
- To evade (a problem, situation, etc.) by using some clever argument or stratagem.
- To handle or manage carefully or skilfully; to manipulate in a crafty way.
- (slang) To obtain something from someone through trickery or manipulation.
- To attempt to win a trick by finessing.
- To play (a card) as a finesse.
- (obsolete) To play a ball out of the way of an opponent.
Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0
IPA pronunciation
/fɪˈnɛs/
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.
In the pages of books
See this word in context.
I think that this is an example of finesse in electioneering which would never have occurred to an Englishman.
Conserve your strength and your finesse for the times you need them, and win your other matches decisively, but not destructively.
More book examples (3)
Irene curved her pretty chin in comment upon her father's incorrigibility, and Penelope made a droll mouth, but the Colonel remained serenely content with his finesse.
He had affected a finesse in money matters beyond what he deserved, and aimed at reducing even natural affections to a kind of calculations, like Demoivre's.
The best friend of the Baboo cannot acquit him of a tendency to temporise, a hankering after finesse, a too fatal facility to fall under pecuniary temptation.