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thumb on the scale

An act of bias or a tactic for cheating which creates a situation that unfairly benefits one party involved in an interaction.

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.
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“

I'll try to give an impartial account without putting my thumb on the scale.

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Submitted on July 10, 2018

Translation

Find a translation for the thumb on the scale phrase in other languages:

pulgar en la balanza

pouce sur l'échelle

большой палец на шкале

拇指在秤上

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Nearby phrases

Some more phrases from our dictionary similar to thumb on the scale

rule of thumbthumb-warsthumb one's nosescale upon a napoleonic scalescale downthumb a ridescale backturn the scalescale downstick out like a sore thumbtip the scalescale upscale out

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    "thumb on the scale." Phrases.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 Nov. 2024. <https://www.phrases.com/phrase/thumb-on-the-scale_26701>.

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