Word.ws English Dictionary

thumbs on the scale

thumbs on the scale is the plural of thumb on the scale.

Meaning of thumb on the scale

Noun

thumb on the scale (usually uncountable, plural thumbs on the scale or thumbs on the scales)

  1. (idiomatic, usually) An act of bias or a tactic for cheating which creates a situation that unfairly benefits one party involved in an interaction.
    • I'll try to give an impartial account without putting my thumb on the scale.1982, Emory A. Griffin, Getting Together, →ISBN, page 68

Questions about thumbs on the scale

What is thumbs on the scale the plural of?
Thumbs on the scale is the plural of thumb on the scale.

Words near thumbs on the scale in the dictionary

  1. thumbprints
  2. thumbs
  3. thumbs a ride
  4. thumbs down
  5. thumbs downs
  6. thumbs on the scale
  7. thumbs on the scales
  8. thumbs one's nose
  9. thumbs through
  10. thumbs up
  11. thumbs up, seven up

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: thumbs on the scale (page history and authors); thumb on the scale (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.

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Cite this entry: “thumbs on the scale.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/thumbs_on_the_scale. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.