Question
7 March
- Spanish (Spain)
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Russian
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English (UK)
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English (US)
Question about English (US)
What is the difference between finest and best ?Feel free to just provide example sentences.
What is the difference between finest and best ?Feel free to just provide example sentences.
Answers
- English (US)
Finest usually means the quality of a product, while best is more general.
“This is the finest chocolate you’ll find in America!” and “This is the best chocolate you’ll find in America!” are both correct.
“I got the best test grade in the class” is correct, but “I got the finest test grade in the class” is not correct.
- Spanish (Spain)
@miniongrin so can I say.
*the finest food is in this restaurant.
*the finesse of this restaurant makes me feel that I'm rich but I'm not.
*the finest food is in this restaurant.
*the finesse of this restaurant makes me feel that I'm rich but I'm not.
- English (US)
Yes, except in the second sentence the word you mean is “fineness,” “finesse” is a different word. And I might say “The quality of this restaurant...” which would sound more natural.
- Spanish (Spain)
@miniongrin can u show me an example sentence with both
- English (US)
- Spanish (Spain)
- English (US)
@HDGD
Fineness means the state of being fine:
“The fineness of the clothes made them worth the expense.”
Finesse means doing sometime well, gracefully, or easily:
“Her finesse on the dance floor would make an Olympic gymnast jealous.”
“The boat glided through the water with finesse.”
- Spanish (Spain)
@miniongrin so those two words are not the same as finest???
- English (US)
@HDGD right. Fineness is related to finest, but not the same, and finesse is a completely different word with a different meaning.
- Spanish (Spain)
@miniongrin so can I say.
*the fineness in this car is the best.
*the finesse he plays the piano will make him win.
*this is the finest house I've ever seen.
*the fineness in this car is the best.
*the finesse he plays the piano will make him win.
*this is the finest house I've ever seen.
Read more comments
- English (US)
@HDGD For the first sentence, if you’re just looking around a house and see how fine it is, the sentence would be “The fineness is something that I always notice in a house.” If you’re looking at a house to decide how nice it is, you are looking “for” the fineness, and it would be “...always look for in a house.” “Look in house” wouldn’t work for either meaning.
I said “level” in the first sentence because “fineness” is an uncommon and sort of strange word. You use it when you are talking about how high quality it is, or the “level” of quality. You don’t have to say “level of fineness” instead of “fineness” but sometimes it makes the sentence sound more natural.
- English (US)
@HDGD For the third sentence, “finesse” is also an uncommon and strange word. It it an adjective to describe doing something gracefully, but it’s more about the person doing it. The person has the finesse. Saying “the most finesse way” does not make sense, but asking someone to do something “with finesse” makes sense. Since the person has the finesse, I added “your” to the sentence, and then added “usual” because it makes it sound more natural. You are asking someone to do something well and gracefully because they have done it before, so it is usual. If they have not done something well (with finesse) before, you do not know if the person has finesse, so that isn’t the word you would use.
So, “do this work with your usual finesse.”
Sorry for the long explanation, finesse is a strange word. I hope this makes sense!
- Spanish (Spain)
@miniongrin is because I'm getting confused because the three words look a like..
so fineness is to describe situations right?
finest is the same as saying the best right?
and finesse is to describe how good is something am I right?
I'm sorry for going back to the samething but I couldn't understand ur explanation let me know if I'm right?
and fi
so fineness is to describe situations right?
finest is the same as saying the best right?
and finesse is to describe how good is something am I right?
I'm sorry for going back to the samething but I couldn't understand ur explanation let me know if I'm right?
and fi
- English (US)
They do look very similar! You have the meanings right, it’s just that “fineness” and “finesse” are uncommon and sometimes difficult words to use in actual sentences. “Finest” is the most common of the words, and you can use it the same way you use “best”.
- Spanish (Spain)
@miniongrin yeah but there's grammatically rules for each one right?
- Spanish (Spain)
@miniongrin for example u didn't tell me if the conclusion that I gave you in my last comment was correct.. is it correct?
- English (US)
I think your last comment was cut off, did it start “and fi”?
- English (US)
And there are grammatical rules for each of them, I’m just not sure how to describe them well. Sometimes something sounds natural and I’m not totally sure why.
- Spanish (Spain)
@miniongrin ok this is the conclusion let. me know if I'm right just to clear my doubts
so fineness is to describe situations right?
finest is the same as saying the best right?
and finesse is to describe how good is something am I right?
so fineness is to describe situations right?
finest is the same as saying the best right?
and finesse is to describe how good is something am I right?
- English (US)
Yes, those are right! If you want some extra notes that might be helpful/more specific (not necessary though):
Fineness is used to describe objects as well as situations: “the fineness of the chocolate is impressive.”
You’re 100% right on how to use finest.
And finesse is used to describe how good you are at something, but specifically describes how gracefully you can do something, so it’s often used to talk about sports or other physical skills.

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