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fudge factor

American  

noun

  1. any variable component added to an experiment, plan, or the like that can be manipulated to allow leeway for error.


Example Sentences

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See Examples For:

Even adding a fudge factor to all that, though, there’s a huge gap in the math.

From The Wall Street Journal Aug. 7, 2026

Now, lambda is enjoying a second life, but it remains a fudge factor without any physical explanation, and one possible basis for it doesn’t hold up.

From Science Magazine Jun. 21, 2023

You could add a fudge factor to account for future inflation, which is, unfortunately, unpredictable.

From Seattle Times Jul. 31, 2022

Antigravity might sound crazy, but it was Einstein who first raised the possibility of its permeating space in the form of a fudge factor called the cosmological constant, which he later abandoned as a blunder.

From New York Times Mar. 17, 2014

A one-sided fudge factor, that is, an allowance for error but in only one of two directions.

From The Jargon File, Version 4.2.2, 20 Aug 2000 by Steele, Guy L.

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