Wile vs Finesse - What's the difference?
wile | finesse | Related terms |
(usually, in the plural) A trick or stratagem practiced for ensnaring or deception; a sly, insidious artifice
* Milton
To entice or lure
, "to pass the time".
(uncountable) The property of having grace, elegance, skill, or balance.
(uncountable) Skill in handling of a situation.
(countable) An adroit maneuver.
(countable, bridge) A technique which allows one to promote tricks based on a favorable position of one or more cards in the hands of the opponent.
(ambitransitive, card games) To play (a card) as a finesse (see noun sense above).
To handle or manage carefully or skillfully.
To evade.
As nouns the difference between wile and finesse
is that wile is a trick or stratagem practiced for ensnaring or deception; a sly, insidious artifice while finesse is the property of having grace, elegance, skill, or balance.As verbs the difference between wile and finesse
is that wile is to entice or lure while finesse is to play (a card) as a finesse (see noun sense above).As a proper noun Wile
is {{surname|from=nicknames}.wile
English
(Webster 1913)Noun
(en noun)- He was seduced by her wiles .
- to frustrate all our plots and wiles
Synonyms
* beguilement * allurementVerb
(wil)- Here's a pleasant way to wile away the hours.
Usage notes
The phrase meaning to pass time idly is while away''. We can trace the meaning in an adjectival sense for while back to Old English, hw?len — ''passing, transitory''. We also see it in the whilend — ''temporary, transitory''. But since ''wile away occurs so often, it is now included in many dictionaries.References
* Grammarist.comWhile away or wile away?* Common Errors in the English Language
Wile Away, While Away----