finesse
noun
extreme delicacy or subtlety in action, performance, skill, discrimination, taste, etc.
finessed
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past participleof finesse.past participle
A verb form used in perfect and passive verb constructions and that can also function as a modifier.
-
past tense formof finesse.past tense
Used to describe completed actions or previous habitual actions.
finessenounextreme delicacy or subtlety in action, performance, skill, discrimination, taste, etc.
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.
He suffers from the two facts that he achieved unique fame for the surgery named for him and he didn’t strike out hitters, he finessed them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026
Berkshire does own about $60 billion of Apple stock, but that issue likely could be finessed to get Cook.
From Barron's ● Apr. 24, 2026
But Rutte appears to have finessed an issue that had threatened to shatter the north Atlantic alliance.
From BBC ● Jan. 21, 2026
It’s a mammalian innovation, honed and finessed in the latter stages of the Mesozoic era, the so-called Age of Reptiles.
From Slate ● Sep. 7, 2024
UC Berkeley’s medical school would not get over its disdain for John’s studies for years, until the situation was finessed by the creation of a separate laboratory for radiation science in 1942.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
