noun

1. adroitness and delicacy of performance
2. the ability to handle delicate and difficult situations skillfully and diplomatically
3. cunning; skill; artfulness; craft
4. Bridge an attempt to take a trick with a lower card while holding a higher card not in sequence with it, made in the hope that the intervening card is in the hand of the opponent who has already played

Etymology: Fr < OFr fin, fine

transitive verb finessed -·nessed′, finessing -·ness′·ing

1. to manage, bring about, or deal with by finesse: sometimes with into
2. to evade or bypass (a problem, issue, etc.)
3. Bridge
   1. to make a finesse with (a specified card)
   2. to play a card lower than (the specified intervening card) in making a finesse

intransitive verb