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Glite Dictionary
to pencil whip

to pencil whip

9.9
To quickly fill in forms without checking details, often by writing false information
  • phrasal verb
  • /ˈpɛnsl wɪp/
  • Slang
translation icon : rellenar rápidamente
  • Don't pencil whip your reports!

Examples

  • Management warned employees not to pencil whip their time sheets or risk disciplinary action.

  • Rather than pencil whipping the inspection, she took her time to do it thoroughly.

  • The auditor discovered that the supervisor had pencil whipped several safety checklists.

  • He tends to pencil whip his assignments.

  • The manager told us to pencil whip the budget report so we could submit it before the deadline.

  • It's unethical to pencil whip the safety inspections by skipping important checks.

  • He pencil whipped his project, filling in numbers without verifying their accuracy.

Synonyms

to scrawl
vsto pencil whip
23 5.5

To write or draw quickly and carelessly so it is hard to read

finishes forms fast and carelessly often alters facts or skips checks

Antonyms

to verify
251 3.5

To make sure something is true or correct

How Thorough

rush
1 4.1
to dash off
3 5.1
to pencil whip
  • Slang
9.9

Surface Forms

pencil whip infinitive
pencil whipped past
pencil whipped past participle
pencil whipping present participle
pencil whips third person singular

Morphology

pencil + whip

The constituents 'pencil' (writing instrument) and 'whip' (to do something forcefully or quickly) together transparently suggest doing a written task rapidly — a B1 learner who knows both words would likely infer 'write something quickly.' However, the additional senses of carelessness, cutting corners or falsifying information are metaphorical and jargon-like, so the full evaluative/ethical nuance is not fully predictable without exposure.

Etymology

Pencil whip may come from the image of someone using a pencil to sweep quickly across a page like a whip, rushing through forms or checklists. So, pencil whip now means 'to complete papers or reports quickly and carelessly, often by faking or not checking details'.