extreme delicacy or subtlety in action, performance, skill, discrimination, taste, etc.
skill in handling a difficult or highly sensitive situation; adroit and artful management: exceptional diplomatic finesse.
a trick, artifice, or stratagem.
Bridge, Whist. 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.
verb (used without object),fi·nessed,fi·ness·ing.
to use finesse or artifice.
to make a finesse at cards.
verb (used with object),fi·nessed,fi·ness·ing.
to bring about by finesse or artifice.
to avoid; circumvent.
to make a finesse with (a card).
to force the playing of (a card) by a finesse.
Origin of finesse
1400–50; late Middle English: degree of excellence or purity <Middle French <Vulgar Latin *fīnitia.See fine1, -ice
Perhaps the language loses some finesse after being translated from Italian, by Jamie Richards.
This Week’s Hot Reads: May 29, 2012|Jimmy So|May 29, 2012|DAILY BEAST
The days when skill in ball placement and finesse could outgun power have long past.
Nadal's Head Game|Gail Sheehy|September 3, 2009|DAILY BEAST
From a saute de foie, what delicate subtleties of finesse might have their origin?
Pelham, Complete|Edward Bulwer-Lytton
With French finesse he hits his mark 72 by expressly avoiding it.
French Classics|William Cleaver Wilkinson
Who but Turkey could discover the nests of hens whose maternal anxiety had eluded the finesse of Kirsty?
Ranald Bannerman's Boyhood|George MacDonald
Thousands of Spaniards fell as the result of his daring and finesse in military execution.
History of Negro Soldiers in the Spanish-American War, and Other Items of Interest|Edward A. Johnson
And with all the finesse of their work the traffic moves like molasses.
The Personality of American Cities|Edward Hungerford
British Dictionary definitions for finesse
finesse
/ (fɪˈnɛs) /
noun
elegant skill in style or performance
subtlety and tact in handling difficult situations
bridgewhistan attempt to win a trick when opponents hold a high card in the suit led by playing a lower card, hoping the opponent who has already played holds the missing card
a trick, artifice, or strategy
verb
to manage or bring about with finesse
to play (a card) as a finesse
Word Origin for finesse
C15: from Old French, from fin fine, delicate; see fine1