finagle
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to trick, swindle, or cheat (a person) (often followed byout of ).
He finagled the backers out of a fortune.
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to get or achieve (something) by guile, trickery, or manipulation.
to finagle an assignment to the Membership Committee.
verb (used without object)
verb
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(tr) to get or achieve by trickery, craftiness, or persuasion; wangle
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to use trickery or craftiness on (a person)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of finagle
An Americanism first recorded in 1925–30; finaig- (variant of fainaigue ) + -le
Explanation
When you finagle, you get out of something using devious methods, like when you pretend you're sick to avoid taking a pop quiz. Finagle is a word with a usually negative connotation, as it means to get something by being dishonest or tricking someone. To get a student discount from a bookstore by pretending you're a student is to finagle the store clerk. Finagle might also mean to get your way by being clever, as when you convince your sister that what she really wants for her birthday is that video game you've been dreaming of for months.
Vocabulary lists containing finagle
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Premium cabins typically aren’t cheap if you’re paying a cash fare, but you might be able to finagle your way to an upgrade.
From Seattle Times • May 25, 2022
If she used some of his vast fortune to fund her music career and finagle a starring role on Broadway, so what?
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 22, 2021
Foster and her fiance, meanwhile, may sacrifice the “feel of a wedding” to finagle room for more guests by taking advantage of looser restaurant regulations that allow for more people indoors.
From Washington Post • Mar. 20, 2021
Frank and his wife, who is from South Africa, managed to finagle their way into an area that hosted the original DeBeers mines, the enormous pits that made the company among the world’s wealthiest.
From New York Times • Feb. 23, 2021
The conference had filled up months earlier, but Jesse managed to finagle his way in over the phone.
From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
