finagle

American  

[fi-ney-guhl] / fɪˈneɪ gəl /

Sometimes fenagle

verb (used with object)

finagled, finagling

1. to trick, swindle, or cheat (a person) (often followed byout of ).

   He finagled the backers out of a fortune.

2. to get or achieve (something) by guile, trickery, or manipulation.

   to finagle an assignment to the Membership Committee.

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verb (used without object)

finagled, finagling

1. to practice deception or fraud; scheme.

finagle British  

/ fɪˈneɪɡəl /

verb

1. (tr) to get or achieve by trickery, craftiness, or persuasion; wangle

2. to use trickery or craftiness on (a person)

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Other Word Forms

• finagler
  noun

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

finagle finagled finagling

Financial firms are under attack by hackers using voice phishing to finagle sensitive data from employees, according to new research from Google’s threat-intelligence group.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

Precious about his loss, yet glib about other people’s, he has the charismatic narcissist’s ability to finagle subservience.

From New York Times ● Feb. 16, 2023

Indeed, the internet is full of DIY hackers explaining how to finagle a frunk unofficially.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 7, 2022

Francisco-Juan claimed to be the 10-year-old’s father and had managed to finagle her mother into putting his name on her birth certificate, manufacturing bogus proof of the relationship.

From Washington Times ● Aug. 21, 2022

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

“Obsessed,” he finagled his way onto the set and into a job.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 20, 2026

I don’t know how these guys finagled that.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 22, 2025

He finagled it so that he ran the leg that passed right in front of his and my friend’s house on Monroe Drive.

From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2024

Crimmins finagled an introduction to a congressperson who was able to help him expedite the Agriculture Department approval process to get the frog into the country.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 30, 2022

“Then I found out. Mother finagled the governor to appoint me to the Council of Defense. The draft board said that could be my service.”

From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson

Hummel is one of the few who relish diagnosing their problems, taking them apart and finagling them in and out of trucks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 7, 2026

While the film takes a clever yet light bit of finagling to find online, it’s worth the search: “A Diva’s Christmas Carol” is a life-altering, life-affirming event movie to rival even the best Dickens alteration.

From Salon ● Dec. 24, 2025

But she has an ulterior motive in shrewdly finagling her way into a job at an esteemed Chicago law firm, which is revealed by the end of the hour and sets the season in motion.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2024

It took some finagling to get on the lists—the spots were reserved for clients, customers, and dealers willing to fork over their contact info and sit through a sales pitch—but I had a dealer’s credential.

From Slate ● May 30, 2023

After finagling ourselves out of a visit to the principal’s office, we limped home.

From "If I Stay" by Gayle Forman