Meanings
present singular third person finagles · participle present finagling · participle past finagled · past finagled · alternative finangle · alternative phenagle
- transitiveTo obtain, arrange, or achieve by indirect, complicated and/or intensive efforts.
finagle a day off work
4 more examples
She finagled her way around so that her arms were now clasped around his neck. So as not to cause a scene, Jason began to sway with her as if they had intended to dance. “Where's your counterpart tonight, Mandy?” he asked with a sly smile. “I thought you and Carl Maycomb were seeing each other.” Mandy answered with a “humph,” indicating she didn't want to talk about Carl.
2007, Ashley Ezell, Harvest of Hearts, Ashley Ezell, →ISBN, page 124Sequels to fish-out-of-water comedies make progressively less sense the longer a series continues. By the time Crocodile Dundee In Los Angeles rolled around in 2001, 15 years after the first Crocodile Dundee became a surprise blockbuster, the title character had been given an awfully long time to grow acclimated to those kooky Americans. Men In Black 3 finagles its way out of this predicament by literally resetting the clock with a time-travel premise that makes Will Smith both a contemporary intergalactic cop in the late 1960s and a stranger to Josh Brolin, who plays the younger version of Smith’s stone-faced future partner, Tommy Lee Jones.
2012 May 24, Nathan Rabin, “Film: Reviews: Men In Black 3”, in The Onion AV Club, archived from the original on 14 Aug 2013If she encountered an obstacle she could not navigate past, she would spend hours backtracking to find a path she and her cart could navigate. When they were invariably overturned along the way, she shouldered her way under the bars and pushed herself up, flipping it over and depositing herself in the cart. She finagled her way out, slowly and methodically replaced the spilled contents back in and went about her way She stood outside a hair salon for two days...
2012, Jonathan Logan Donovan, Husk: A Tale of Human Hunger, AuthorHouse, →ISBNThe kitten followed Sophie everywhere and had finagled her way into free run of the house. Cooper didn't much care for the way the little beast acted as if she already owned the place. He certainly didn't care for the way she leaped up onto his desk, and sat on his laptop, as if to say, “Let's see how you get out of this one, cowboy.”
2017, Allie Pleiter, Myra Johnson, Annie Hemby, Harlequin Love Inspired September 2017-Box Set 2 of 2: The Texas Rancher's New Family\Her Hill Country Cowboy\Healing His Widowed Heart, Harlequin, →ISBN - transitiveTo obtain, arrange, or achieve by deceitful methods, by trickery.
finagled his way out of a ticket by pretending to be on the way to a funeral, distraught
1 more example
Down the third-floor hallway, she noticed that the police tape had been removed from George Vandercloop's door. Did that mean Sunrise Village was now free to rent it to a new tenant? She tried the door knob and found it locked. Not that she expected she'd find anything more in the apartment than she'd seen the one time she'd finagled her way inside. Murder by chloroform didn't leave much evidence behind. She U-turned, made her way to the door with “Helen Dorgan” printed on [it] ...
2017, Judith Arnold, Kick The Bucket: A Lainie Lovett Mystery, Judith Arnold, →ISBN
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo obtain, arrange, or achieve by indirect, complicated and/or intensive efforts.
More synonyms by meaning
verbachieve something by means of trickery or devious methods
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Americanism from the 1920s, perhaps combining an alteration of fainaigue (“to renege”) with the suffix + -le (“frequentative”), possibly influenced by inveigle; compare haggle.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 騙取 /骗取
- 騙取 /骗取 (piànqǔ)(transitive) to obtain or achieve by indirect and usually deceitful methods
Czech podvádět, podvést
- podvádět(transitive, intransitive) to cheat or swindle; to use crafty, deceitful methods (often with "out of")
- podvést(transitive, intransitive) to cheat or swindle; to use crafty, deceitful methods (often with "out of")
Dutch foefelen, ritselen
- foefelen(transitive, intransitive) to cheat or swindle; to use crafty, deceitful methods (often with "out of")
- ritselen(transitive, intransitive) to cheat or swindle; to use crafty, deceitful methods (often with "out of")
- zwendelen(transitive, intransitive) to cheat or swindle; to use crafty, deceitful methods (often with "out of")
- ontfutselen(transitive) to obtain or achieve by indirect and usually deceitful methods
- ritselen(transitive) to obtain or achieve by indirect and usually deceitful methods
French escroquer, estamper
- escroquer(transitive, intransitive) to cheat or swindle; to use crafty, deceitful methods (often with "out of")
- estamper(transitive, intransitive) to cheat or swindle; to use crafty, deceitful methods (often with "out of")
- filouter(transitive, intransitive) to cheat or swindle; to use crafty, deceitful methods (often with "out of")
- piquer(transitive, intransitive) to cheat or swindle; to use crafty, deceitful methods (often with "out of")
- rouler(transitive, intransitive) to cheat or swindle; to use crafty, deceitful methods (often with "out of")
- refaire(transitive, intransitive) to cheat or swindle; to use crafty, deceitful methods (often with "out of")
- truander(transitive, intransitive) to cheat or swindle; to use crafty, deceitful methods (often with "out of")
- intriguer(transitive) to obtain or achieve by indirect and usually deceitful methods
- magouiller(transitive) to obtain or achieve by indirect and usually deceitful methods
- se faire pistonner(transitive) to obtain or achieve by indirect and usually deceitful methods
German mogeln, betrügen
- mogeln(transitive, intransitive) to cheat or swindle; to use crafty, deceitful methods (often with "out of")
- betrügen(transitive, intransitive) to cheat or swindle; to use crafty, deceitful methods (often with "out of")
- fudeln(transitive, intransitive) to cheat or swindle; to use crafty, deceitful methods (often with "out of")
- täuschen(transitive, intransitive) to cheat or swindle; to use crafty, deceitful methods (often with "out of")
- erschleichen(transitive) to obtain or achieve by indirect and usually deceitful methods
- ermogeln(transitive) to obtain or achieve by indirect and usually deceitful methods
Hungarian csal, becsap
- csal(transitive, intransitive) to cheat or swindle; to use crafty, deceitful methods (often with "out of")
- becsap(transitive) to obtain or achieve by indirect and usually deceitful methods
- rászed(transitive) to obtain or achieve by indirect and usually deceitful methods
Italian sottrarre, fregare
- sottrarre(transitive, intransitive) to cheat or swindle; to use crafty, deceitful methods (often with "out of")
- fregare(transitive) to obtain or achieve by indirect and usually deceitful methods
Polish rolować, wyrolować
- rolować(transitive, intransitive) to cheat or swindle; to use crafty, deceitful methods (often with "out of")
- wyrolować(transitive, intransitive) to cheat or swindle; to use crafty, deceitful methods (often with "out of")
- kombinować(transitive) to obtain or achieve by indirect and usually deceitful methods
- skombinować(transitive) to obtain or achieve by indirect and usually deceitful methods
Russian жульничать
- жульничать (žulʹničatʹ)(transitive, intransitive) to cheat or swindle; to use crafty, deceitful methods (often with "out of")
Spanish hacer trampas, trufar
- hacer trampas(transitive, intransitive) to cheat or swindle; to use crafty, deceitful methods (often with "out of")
- trufar(transitive, intransitive) to cheat or swindle; to use crafty, deceitful methods (often with "out of")
- escamotear(transitive, intransitive) to cheat or swindle; to use crafty, deceitful methods (often with "out of")
- hurtar(transitive, intransitive) to cheat or swindle; to use crafty, deceitful methods (often with "out of")
- birlar(transitive, intransitive) to cheat or swindle; to use crafty, deceitful methods (often with "out of")
- estafar(transitive, intransitive) to cheat or swindle; to use crafty, deceitful methods (often with "out of")
- timar(transitive, intransitive) to cheat or swindle; to use crafty, deceitful methods (often with "out of")
- petardear(transitive, intransitive) to cheat or swindle; to use crafty, deceitful methods (often with "out of")
- enchufar(transitive) to obtain or achieve by indirect and usually deceitful methods
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with finagle
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
finagle. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/finagle
“finagle.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/finagle. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “finagle,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/finagle.
Source: finagle on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.