finesse
Americannoun
-
extreme delicacy or subtlety in action, performance, skill, discrimination, taste, etc.
- Synonyms:
- sensibility, sensitivity, circumspection, diplomacy, tact
-
skill in handling a difficult or highly sensitive situation; adroit and artful management.
exceptional diplomatic finesse.
- Synonyms:
- sensibility, sensitivity, circumspection, diplomacy, tact
-
a trick, artifice, or stratagem.
-
Bridge, Whist. an attempt to win a trick with a card while holding a higher card not in sequence with it, in the hope that the card or cards between will not be played.
verb (used without object)
-
to use finesse or artifice.
-
to make a finesse at cards.
verb (used with object)
-
to bring about by finesse or artifice.
-
to avoid; circumvent.
-
to make a finesse with (a card).
-
to force the playing of (a card) by a finesse.
noun
-
elegant skill in style or performance
-
subtlety and tact in handling difficult situations
-
bridge whist an attempt to win a trick when opponents hold a high card in the suit led by playing a lower card, hoping the opponent who has already played holds the missing card
-
a trick, artifice, or strategy
verb
-
to manage or bring about with finesse
-
to play (a card) as a finesse
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
finessesimple
-
finessessimple
-
have finessedperfect
-
has finessedperfect
-
am finessingprogressive
-
are finessingprogressive
-
is finessingprogressive
-
have been finessingperfect progressive
-
has been finessingperfect progressive
Past
-
finessedsimple
-
had finessedperfect
-
was finessingprogressive
-
were finessingprogressive
-
had been finessingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of finesse
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English: “degree of excellence or purity,” from Middle French, from fin fine 1 + -esse -ice
Explanation
Having finesse means you can handle difficult situations with diplomacy and tact, like the finesse it takes to help two friends work out their differences — without taking sides or alienating either one. Finesse is having grace under pressure. It's handling the rantings of an angry customer with a smile and a calm tone. Someone who has finesse says the right thing at the right time — or knows when to say nothing at all. Finesse looks like fineness and in fact comes from the Middle French word that means exactly that — delicate in nature. People with finesse can handle anything — with a delicate approach that really works.
Vocabulary lists containing finesse
Trumps
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This Week in Pop Culture: February 2 - 8, 2019
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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.
See Examples For:
Against Cape Verde, Spain lacked finesse in their passing.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026
The center, to the chagrin of many in the NBA, has long been known more for his finesse touch shots than physical play.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 27, 2026
But what he might lack in rhetorical finesse, he more than has in job experience, as least as defined by Trump.
From Salon ● Apr. 9, 2026
Whenever you ask AI to contribute to a performance review, make sure to be specific about the information you want the system to analyze or finesse.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 24, 2026
Compared to the clockwork finesse and gentle charm of Corelli, Vivaldi introduced a sense of drama and virtuosity that took his contemporaries’ breath away.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
Soft and supple, it finesses the line between elegance and heft.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 8, 2021
The computers say the mate is now forced but there are a couple of amazing finesses along the way.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 5, 2019
Grant attempts two tricky maneuvers with “Harpoon” and, for the most part, finesses them both.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2019
“He just finesses it, so that you know how to enable the illusion, and the audience knows where to look.”
From New York Times ● Jul. 10, 2018
Hoagland would say that now was the time for playing certain finesses, that in the wake of the activity arose those moments that could be manipulated.
From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee
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
In bright, airy studios in London and Malibu, they finessed what would become Lipa’s most ambitious — and euphoric-sounding — record to date.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 30, 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
They’ve tested concepts on stage that haven’t worked; sometimes comedians themselves have realized their act needs more finessing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 15, 2025
With enough time and imagination, kickers and equipment managers are capable of finessing footballs in ways that make them soar.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2025
The outreach requires finessing complex legal and diplomatic disputes that have long poisoned ties, but, as the court cases demonstrated, history hangs heavy over the relationship.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 22, 2023
There is no leveraging, cajoling, or finessing the calculations of thrust, the pressure inside the cryogenic tanks, or the behavior of a 165-foot-long spaceship attempting a rocket-powered landing.
From National Geographic ● Nov. 18, 2023
In our numerous conversations, although he has always heard me with deference, I have been conscious throughout of a sort of ponderous finessing hard to tolerate.
From Prince Otto, a Romance by Stevenson, Robert Louis
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.
