finesse: Meaning and Definition of

fi•nesse

Pronunciation: (fi-ness'), [key]
— n., v., -nessed, -ness•ing.
—n.
  1. extreme delicacy or subtlety in action, performance, skill, discrimination, taste, etc.
  2. skill in handling a difficult or highly sensitive situation; adroit and artful management: exceptional diplomatic finesse.
  3. a trick, artifice, or stratagem.
  4. 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.
—v.i.
  1. to use finesse or artifice.
  2. to make a finesse at cards.
—v.t.
  1. to bring about by finesse or artifice.
  2. to make a finesse with (a card).
  3. to force the playing of (a card) by a finesse.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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