View synonyms for finagle

finagle

[ fi-ney-guhl ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

verb (used with object)

, fi·na·gled, fi·na·gling.

to trick, swindle, or cheat (a person) (often followed by out of ):
He finagled the backers out of a fortune.
to get or achieve (something) by guile, trickery, or manipulation:
to finagle an assignment to the Membership Committee.

verb (used without object)

, fi·na·gled, fi·na·gling.

to practice deception or fraud; scheme.

finagle

/ fɪˈneɪɡəl /

verb

tr to get or achieve by trickery, craftiness, or persuasion; wangle
to use trickery or craftiness on (a person)

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Derived Forms

fiˈnagler, noun

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Other Words From

fi·nagler noun

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Word History and Origins

Origin of finagle¹

An Americanism first recorded in 1925–30; finaig- (variant of fainaigue ) + -le

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Word History and Origins

Origin of finagle¹

C20: probably changed from dialect fainaigue

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Example Sentences

Former Senator Bill Nelson, who was sworn in as administrator of NASA in May, finagled a junket for himself aboard a space shuttle flight in 1986, as did former Senator Jake Garn the year before.

From Time

Sanders has indicated he might get creative on finagling an indirect way to raise the minimum wage through the tax code.

From Vox

And many would-be conquerors have managed to finagle bits and pieces.

From The Daily Beast

Maybe he can finagle a vote before the rage caucus gets fully into gear.

From The Daily Beast

And above all, don't let anybody finagle you into making any claims about knowing the future.

From Project Gutenberg