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/fɪnˈɛs/ Listen

noun

Finesse n.

Subtilty of contrivance to gain a point; artifice; stratagem. "This is the artificialest piece of finesse to persuade men into slavery."

(Whist Playing) The act of finessing. See Finesse, v. i., 2.

verb

Finesse v. i. (past & past part. finessed; pres. part. finessing)

To use artifice or stratagem.

(Whist Playing) To attempt, when second or third player, to make a lower card answer the purpose of a higher, when an intermediate card is out, risking the chance of its being held by the opponent yet to play.

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Etymology of 'Finesse'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Finesse" Quotes from Famous Books

... for a time, it fluctuated with the breath of the bellows. Just now he was meekly quailing before the old woman, whom he evidently had not thought to find here. It was as apt an illustration as might be, perhaps, of the inferiority of strength to finesse. She seemed an inconsiderable adversary, as, haggard, lean, and prematurely aged, she swayed on her prodding-stick about the huge kettle; but she was as a veritable David to this big young Goliath, though she, too, flung hardly more than a ...

— The Wit of Women - Fourth Edition • Kate Sanborn

... the perfect type of the English nobleman and statesman. The years that he had spent in the diplomatic service at Constantinople, St. Petersburg, and Salt Lake City had given to him a peculiar finesse and noblesse, while his long residence at St. Helena, Pitcairn Island, and Hamilton, Ontario, had rendered him impervious to external impressions. As deputy-paymaster of the militia of the county he had seen something of the sterner side of military life, while his hereditary office of Groom ...

— Nonsense Novels • Stephen Leacock

... in the general gist of this though the mystical finesse involved was a bit out of his sublunary depth still he felt bound to enter a demurrer on the head of ...

— Ulysses • James Joyce

... was thrown aside all finesse, all delicacy of presentation, and the last lingering feeling of temperate life and nature was erased. From now on there was no confusion of zones, no concessions, no mental palimpsest of resolving images. The spatial, the temporal,—the hillside, the passing seconds,—the ...

— Edge of the Jungle • William Beebe

... more finesse on the part of the handy man. Bat strolled as if it were a matter of habit into the telegraph editor's room, where he lolled back in one of the two empty chairs. It was still early and the wires were silent. Bat laid one cigar at the editor's ...

— The Freebooters of the Wilderness • Agnes C. Laut

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