tamper
/ˈtæm.pə(ɹ)/
tamper noun: a tool used to tamp something down, such as tobacco in a pipe.
Noun
tamper (plural tampers)
- A tool used to tamp something down, such as tobacco in a pipe.
- A railway vehicle used to tamp down ballast.
- Synonyms:
- ballast tamper, tamping machine
- An envelope of neutron-reflecting material in a nuclear weapon, used to delay the expansion of the reacting material and thus produce a longer-lasting and more energetic explosion.
Verb
tamper (third-person singular simple present tampers, present participle tampering, simple past and past participle tampered)
- To make unauthorized or improper alterations, sometimes causing deliberate damage; to meddle (with something).
- tamper detection
- The alarm had been tampered with and didn’t go off when it should have.
- Synonyms:
- interfere
- To try to influence someone, usually in an illegal or devious way; to try to deal (with someone).
- Prosecutors argued that he would tamper with witnesses if bail was granted.
- […] no man knowes whether a Wife and a Mother, which had such a latitude of power over the Father and the Sonne, would not be tampering with a Prince (even in the point of Religion) of so tender years as rendred him fit for any impression, and to be indoctrinated with such principles as well...1651, John Milton, The Life and Reigne of King Charls, London: W. Reybold, page 217
- To meddle (with something) in order to corrupt or pervert it.
- […] No Art used to inflame him, no Coquetry practised to tempt or intice him, and no Prudery or Affectation to tamper with his Passions; but, on the contrary, artless and unpractised in the Wiles of the World, all her Endeavours, and even all her Wishes, tended only to render herself as un-amiable...1741, Samuel Richardson, “To my worthy Friend, the Editor of PAMELA”, in Pamela, volume 1, London: C. Rivington and J. Osborn, page xii
- She therefore dissuaded Julia from attempting to tamper with the honesty of a servant who had the keys of the vaults […]1790, Ann Radcliffe, chapter 11, in A Sicilian Romance, volume 2, London: T. Hookham, page 77
- Synonyms:
- debauch, lead astray, seduce, adulterate, corrupt, demoralize, detort, file, immoralize, pervert
- To involve oneself (in a plot, scheme, etc.).
- […] he was beheaded upon the Defeat of the Conspiracy for having but thus far tampered in it.1716, Joseph Addison, The Free-holder, No. 31, 6 April, 1716, London: D. Midwinter and J. Tonson, p. 180
- To attempt to practise or administer something (especially medicine) without sufficient knowledge or qualifications.
- Certainly it is a scurvy strong troublesom purge, therefore ill to be tamperd with by the unskilful […]1649, Nicholas Culpeper, transl., A Physicall Director, London: Peter Cole, page 29
- […] Corners of Streets were plaster’d over with Doctors Bills, and Papers of ignorant Fellows; quacking and tampering in Physick, and inviting People to come to them for Remedies;1722 March, H[enry] F[oe] [pseudonym; Daniel Defoe], A Journal of the Plague Year: […], London: […] E[lizabeth] Nutt […]; J. Roberts […]; A. Dodd […]; and J. Graves […], →OCLC, page 36
- To discuss future contracts with a player, against league rules.
- Synonyms:
- tap up
tamper meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada
tamper in Tamil
- குறுக்கிட்டுத் தொந்தரவு செய்
tamper in Urdu
- دخل اندازی کرنا, دخل دینا
tamper in Malayalam
- monkey around, interfere, meddle
- അനധികൃതമായി ഇടപെടുക, തത്ത്വദീക്ഷിയില്ലാതെ കെെകാര്യം ചെയ്ക, കൃത്രിമം ചെയ്യുക, ഇടപെടൽ നടത്തുക, കെെകടത്തുക, കയ്യിടുക
- get at, influence, rig
- ദുസ്വാധീനം ചെലുത്തി കാര്യം സാധിക്കുക, കൗശലംകൊണ്ടു സാധിക്കുക, ഉപായങ്ങളാൽ തരപ്പെടുത്തുക, കപടമായി കെെകാര്യം ചെയ്ക, കെെക്കൂലി കൊടുക്കുക, കോഴകൊടുക്കുക
tamper in Kannada
- ತಿದ್ದು, ಸುಳ್ಳುಮಾಡು, ಅಕ್ರಮವಾಗಿ ತಿದ್ದು, ಬೇಕಾದಂತೆ ಬದಲಾಯಿಸಿಬಿಡು, ಮತ್ತೊಬ್ಬರ ವಿಷಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಮೂಗು ಹಾಯಿಸು
More languagesFewer languages
- tamper in Arabic
- عَبِثَ ʕabiṯa
Examples of tamper in a sentence
- The election monitors found that a large number of ballots had been tampered with.
- Our body is as a well-set clock which keeps good time; if it be too much or indiscreetly tamper’d with, the larum runs out before the houre.1640, Joseph Hall, Christian Moderation, London: Nathaniel Butter, Book 1, § 7, p. 70:
- […] of those Books that passe for authentick who knows what hath bin tamper’d withall, what hath bin raz’d out, what hath bin inserted […]1641, John Milton, Of Reformation, Thomas Underhill, page 25:
- These extraordinary capacities of life have been ignored by the practitioners of chemical control who have brought to their task […] no humility before the vast forces with which they tamper.1962, Rachel Carson, chapter 17, in Silent Spring, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, page 297:
- Ain't no use to fight it / Don't tamper with my destiny / Any way you slice it / I'm in the hands of fate, you see1977, The Originals, “Been Decided”, in Down to Love Town:
Synonyms of tamper
- ballast tamper
- tamping machine
- interfere
- debauch
- lead astray
- seduce
- adulterate
- corrupt
- file
- immoralize
12 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of tamper
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | tampers |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | tampers |
| present participle | tampering |
| past participle | tampered |
| past | tampered |
Origin of tamper
From tamp + -er.
From Middle French temprer (“to temper, mix, meddle”). Doublet of temper.
Words formed from tamper
Phrases with tamper
Words that rhyme with tamper
Questions about tamper
- What does tamper mean?
- Tamper means a tool used to tamp something down, such as tobacco in a pipe.
- What is tamper in Tamil?
- Tamper in Tamil is குறுக்கிட்டுத் தொந்தரவு செய். See Tamper meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use tamper in a sentence?
- The election monitors found that a large number of ballots had been tampered with.
- What part of speech is tamper?
- Tamper can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce tamper?
- Tamper is pronounced /ˈtæm.pə(ɹ)/ (UK).
- What is the plural of tamper?
- The plural of tamper is tampers.
Words near tamper in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: tamper (page history and authors); tamper (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); tamper (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); tamper (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); tamper (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-tamper.wav.
Cite this entry: “tamper.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tamper. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.