Finesse Definition
fə-nĕs
finessed, finesses, finessing
noun
finesses
Adroitness and delicacy of performance.
Webster's New World
The ability to handle delicate and difficult situations skillfully and diplomatically.
Webster's New World
Cunning; skill; artfulness; craft.
Webster's New World
An attempt to take a trick with a lower card while holding a higher card not in sequence with it, made in the hope that the intervening card is in the hand of the opponent who has already played.
Webster's New World
A stratagem in which one appears to decline an advantage.
American Heritage
Antonyms:
verb
finessed, finesses, finessing
To manage, bring about, or deal with by finesse.
Webster's New World
To evade or bypass (a problem, issue, etc.)
Webster's New World
To handle with a deceptive or evasive strategy.
American Heritage
To use finesse or make a finesse.
Webster's New World
To play a card lower than (the specified intervening card) in making a finesse.
Webster's New World
Synonyms:
Origin of Finesse
-
French fineness, subtlety from fin fine fine1
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
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