Idiom
thumb on the scale
Meaning
An act of bias or a tactic for cheating which creates a situation that unfairly benefits one party involved in an interaction.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“The judge kept his thumb on the scale to help his friend win.”
“He keeps his thumb on the scale to help his own team win.”
“The company put a thumb on the scale by paying the reviewers to give them a higher rating.”
“The hiring manager put a thumb on the scale by giving her nephew the interview questions before the other candidates arrived.”
“By manipulating the voting data, the corrupt official effectively placed a thumb on the scale to ensure his preferred candidate secured the victory.”
Examples
simple
“The judge kept his thumb on the scale to help his friend win.”
“He keeps his thumb on the scale to help his own team win.”
contextual
“The company put a thumb on the scale by paying the reviewers to give them a higher rating.”
“The hiring manager put a thumb on the scale by giving her nephew the interview questions before the other candidates arrived.”
complex
“By manipulating the voting data, the corrupt official effectively placed a thumb on the scale to ensure his preferred candidate secured the victory.”
Origin
The idiom alludes to the practice of a butcher who surreptitiously applies pressure with a thumb while weighing meat. By adding the weight of the digit to the scale, the merchant increases the calculated price of the sale at the customer's expense. The phrase remains a standard reference to the act of cheating where one party introduces a hidden advantage to influence a supposedly objective measurement.
Key words
Related idioms
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