finagle
Americanverb (used with object)
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to trick, swindle, or cheat (a person) (often followed byout of ).
He finagled the backers out of a fortune.
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to get or achieve (something) by guile, trickery, or manipulation.
to finagle an assignment to the Membership Committee.
verb (used without object)
verb
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(tr) to get or achieve by trickery, craftiness, or persuasion; wangle
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to use trickery or craftiness on (a person)
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.
Vocabulary lists containing finagle
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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.
Indeed, the internet is full of DIY hackers explaining how to finagle a frunk unofficially.
From Seattle Times • Nov. 7, 2022
According to the documents, Ramos “was able to finagle his way” into McClurg’s residence.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 2, 2022
Sure, reporters get to skip a few buses when they schedule ahead, but that can take a month to finagle and there’s nothing that feels very V.I.P. at the jail itself.
From New York Times • Feb. 12, 2022
Foster and her fiance, meanwhile, may sacrifice the “feel of a wedding” to finagle room for more guests by taking advantage of looser restaurant regulations that allow for more people indoors.
From Washington Post • Mar. 20, 2021
They spent what remained of their honeymoon on deck, learning how to finagle their way through Ellis Island.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
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.
