no matter how thin you slice it
- idiom
- Informal
:
no importa cómo se mire
- They tried to spin the results positively, but no matter how thin you slice it, the outcome was a failure.
Examples
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No matter how thin you slice it, cheating on the test is still wrong.
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You can't justify that decision; no matter how thin you slice it.
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No matter how thin you slice it, his explanation still doesn't make sense.
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It's wrong, no matter how thin you slice it.
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No matter how thin you slice it, lying to your friends is never acceptable.
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No matter how thin you slice it, the project did not meet the deadline.
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No matter how thin you slice it, the facts remain unchanged.
Synonyms
318
1.6
Whatever the situation, the action or result stays the same
98
3.3
To say something is true despite what was just said
51
3.2
Something is true whatever way it happens
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
no + matter + how + thin + you + slice + it
The phrase uses a concrete action ('slice') metaphorically to mean examining or presenting something in different ways; knowing the constituent words gives a partial clue that nothing changes despite different 'slices', but the intended sense (no matter how you look at it) requires mapping the slicing metaphor to argumentation. This metaphorical extension is somewhat predictable but not fully compositional or universally literal, so learners at B1 may not reliably infer the exact idiomatic meaning without prior exposure.
Etymology
No matter how thin you slice it creates an image of cutting something into very thin pieces. Even if you slice it into many pieces, you can still tell what it is, so the phrase means the fact stays 'still true' no matter how you look at or explain it.