different between stratagem vs finesse

English

Etymology

From Middle English *stratageme, from Old French stratageme, from Latin strategema, from Ancient Greek ?????????? (strat?g?ma, “the act of a general, a piece of generalship”), from ????????? (strat?gé?, “to be a general, command an army”), from ????????? (strat?gós, “a general, the leader or commander of an army”). See strategy.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?st?æt.?.d??m/

Noun

stratagem (plural stratagems)

1. A tactic or artifice designed to gain the upper hand, especially one involving underhanded dealings or deception.
   • 2012 March 22, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Hunger Games[1]:

     While Collins does include a love triangle, a coming-of-age story, and other YA-friendly elements in the mix, they serve as a Trojan horse to smuggle readers into a hopeless world where love becomes a stratagem and growing up is a matter of basic survival.

Related terms

• strategic
• strategist
• strategy

Translations

Further reading

• stratagem at OneLook Dictionary Search

Old French

Etymology

From Latin strategema, from Ancient Greek ?????????? (strat?g?ma).

Noun

stratagem m (oblique plural stratagens, nominative singular stratagens, nominative plural stratagem)

1. strategy; stratagem

English

Etymology

From Middle English f?nesse (“degree of excellence; (of metal) fineness, purity”), from Middle French finesse, Old French finesse (“fineness; delicacy; slenderness”), from fine, fin (“fine, thin”) (from Latin f?nis (“end”); compare Middle English f?n (“of superior quality; precious, valuable; admirable, pleasing; pure, refined; fineness, purity; delicate, exquisite, fine; sharp, thin”)) + -esse (suffix forming nouns describing the condition of being something).

The verb is derived from the noun.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /f??n?s/, /f?-/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /f??n?s/, /f?-/
• Hyphenation: fin?esse

Noun

finesse (countable and uncountable, plural finesses)

1. (uncountable) Skill in the handling or manipulation of a situation. [from c. 1520]

   Synonym: finessing
2. (uncountable) The property of having elegance, grace, refinement, or skill. [from mid 16th c.]
3. (countable) An adroit manoeuvre. [from mid 16th c.]
4. (countable, card games) In bridge, whist, etc.: a technique which allows one to win a trick, usually by playing a card when it is thought that a card that can beat it is held by another player whose turn is over. [from early 18th c.]

Translations

Verb

finesse (third-person singular simple present finesses, present participle finessing, simple past and past participle finessed)

1. (transitive, chiefly Canada, US, politics) To evade (a problem, situation, etc.) by using some clever argument or strategem.
   • 2018, John C. Hull, Options, Futures and Other Derivatives (10th ed.), Pearson (2018), p. 276

     Almost miraculously, [risk-neutral valuation] finesses the problem that we know hardly anything about the risk aversion of the buyers and sellers of options.

2. (transitive, card games) To play (a card) as a finesse. [from mid 18th c.]
3. (transitive, intransitive) To handle or manage carefully or skilfully; to manipulate in a crafty way. [from mid 18th c.]

   Synonym: (slang) zhoosh
4. (intransitive, card games) To attempt to win a trick by finessing. [from mid 18th c.]
5. (intransitive, croquet, obsolete) To play a ball out of the way of an opponent.

Derived terms

Translations

References

Further reading

• finesse (card games) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• finesse (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

French

Etymology

From fin +? -esse

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fi.n?s/
• Rhymes: -?s

Noun

finesse f (plural finesses)

1. fineness (of hair, writing etc.)
2. thinness
3. keenness, sharpness (of blade)
4. fineness, delicacy; slenderness
5. perceptiveness; sensitivity, finesse

Further reading

• “finesse” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).