finesse

Mr. Cregger is a successor to Mr. Carpenter also, but with more comedic finesse and more cleverness, plus a facility for sinuous plotting.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026

Against Cape Verde, Spain lacked finesse in their passing.

From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026

The mayor said he has played pickup basketball at city courts, including at Brooklyn Bridge Park, but acknowledges his style lacks finesse.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 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

The words start to spill out, without finesse or sophistication.

From "Insurgent" by Veronica Roth

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 suggested that the public had seized too narrowly on the times he deploys, say, the King Cobra Driver, rather than the moments he finesses a Titleist putter.

From New York Times ● Sep. 5, 2014

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

While Cooper scraped together the tiny budget from his own money, with help from family, and finessed Levy’s cooperation, Burke promised him they could shoot the film in a week.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 30, 2025

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

Economist Odhiambo Ramogi argues that the move to restrict foreign nationals from businesses is too broad - and could do with finessing.

From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026

And there are some feelings about this show’s return that no amount of script finessing can alter.

From Salon ● Sep. 10, 2026

He won the bid on the basis of completing the project in three days but then spent three months finessing the terms of the contract before subcontracting the job.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 28, 2026

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

By finessing I also managed to get an old feather pillow from the store-room, which proved a comfortable addition to the wooden bolster.

From Prisoner for Blasphemy by G. W. (George William) Foote