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thumb on the scale. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
thumb on the scale, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
thumb on the scale in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Alternative forms
Etymology
An allusion to a butcher who cheats customers by surreptitiously using a thumb to apply extra pressure to the scale when weighing meat to calculate the price of a sale.
Pronunciation
Noun
thumb on the scale (usually uncountable, plural thumbs on the scale or thumbs on the scales)
- (idiomatic) An act of bias or a tactic for cheating which creates a situation that unfairly benefits one party involved in an interaction.
1982, Emory A. Griffin, Getting Together, →ISBN, page 68:I'll try to give an impartial account without putting my thumb on the scale.
1991, Deborah L. Rhode, Justice and Gender, →ISBN, page 187:[E]ven to characterize these cases as affirmative action is misleading. What critics often present as a thumb on the scale for "less qualified" individuals may in fact reflect only necessary adjustments in the way the scale is calibrated.
2009 June 23, “China and US head for trade war”, in Guardian, UK, retrieved 1 November 2015:Ron Kirk, the US trade representative, accused Beijing of putting a "giant thumb on the scale" by restricting exports of commodities including silicon, coke and zinc, to give Chinese manufacturers an unfair advantage.
See also