tamper
/ˈtæm.pə(ɹ)/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.89 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To make unauthorized or improper alterations, sometimes causing deliberate damage; to meddle (with something).
Intransitive verb
verb
To try to influence someone, usually in an illegal or devious way; to try to deal (with someone).
Intransitive verb
verb
To attempt to practise or administer something (especially medicine) without sufficient knowledge or qualifications.
Obsolete
Example Sentences
- "tamper detection"
- "The alarm had been tampered with and didn’t go off when it should have."
- "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."
- "[…] 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 […]"
- "[…] a small steel pistol was concealed within the purse, the trigger of which was connected with the mounting, and made part of the machinery, so that the weapon would certainly be discharged, and in all probability its contents lodged in the person of any one, who, being unacquainted with the secret, should tamper with the lock which secured his treasure."
Etymology
From tamp + -er.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- British English: /ˈtæm.pə(ɹ)/
Usage
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
Frequently Paired Words
Synonyms
ballast tamper
tamping machine
interfere
debauch
lead astray
seduce
adulterate
corrupt
demoralize
detort
file
immoralize