thumb on the scale
1
8.5
- idiom
- Informal
:
manipular
- When Chalabi's name was mentioned in early 2003 NSC meetings by Feith and Wolfowitz, the President said that "this is about democracy? We're not putting our thumb on the scale."
- putting our thumb on the scale
So that shows to what extent they were willing to put their thumb on the scale.
- So that shows to what extent they were willing to put their thumb on the scale.
Examples
-
And then in court, the judge is required to have a thumb on the scale in the insurer's favor (see "arbitrary and capricious" above), so the judge is not— is not allowed to be—impartial.
Blog text (21) -
Second, the "thumb on the scale" in favor of corporations as against unions is underspecified.
Blog text (23) -
One important way the government puts its thumb on the scale for bosses is by creating and protecting their collectives.
Blog text (23) -
Come to justice, that kid's old man's got enough juice here... ...to slip his thumb on the scale and nobody'll say nothing.
-
If Chris Wallace was moderating that debate and had put his thumb on the scale for Romney, he would have been fired and the story would be on the front page of The New York Times.
Blog text (29) -
The God of the Bible requires His disciples to obey His guidance (not necessarily "freedoms") in all areas of their lives, including their businesses (like the butcher not putting his thumb on the scale when weighing meat).
Blog text (23) -
Progressives generally think, not implausibly, that government has already put a thumb on the scale in favor of employers through the legal definition of the character and powers of the corporation, such that it is manifestly unjust for government to fail to put an equalizing thumb on the scale in favor of unions.
Blog text (23) -
Progressives generally think, not implausibly, that government has already put a thumb on the scale in favor of employers through the legal definition of the character and powers of the corporation, such that it is manifestly unjust for government to fail to put an equalizing thumb on the scale in favor of unions.
Blog text (23) -
During the investigation, it became clear that some officials had put their thumb on the scale to favor certain candidates over others.
-
It's unfair when powerful people put their thumb on the scale to influence decisions that should be neutral.
Synonyms
474
1.2
To act dishonestly to gain an unfair advantage
114
6.9
To arrange something dishonestly to get the result you want
36
7.6
To try to get an unfair advantage by using the rules
7
7.5
Arrange things unfairly so one person or group wins
1
7.7
Use clever or dishonest moves to get an advantage
Make a situation end the way you want
To give one side an advantage in a situation
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
thumb + on + the + scale
The phrase evokes the literal image of placing a thumb on a weighing scale to change its reading, so a B1 learner who knows 'thumb' and 'scale' could plausibly infer a figurative sense of unfairly influencing an outcome. However, the extension to manipulating processes or decisions more generally is a metaphorical leap and not fully predictable from the parts alone, making the expression only partially transparent.
Etymology
The idiom thumb on the scale comes from the image of someone secretly pressing a thumb on one side of a scale to make that side heavier and tip the balance. So, it means 'to unfairly change the result' or 'to give someone an unfair advantage'.