fudge

¹ American  

[fuhj] / fʌdʒ /

noun

1. a soft candy made of sugar, butter, milk, chocolate, and sometimes nuts.

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fudge ² American  

[fuhj] / fʌdʒ /

verb (used without object)

fudged, fudging

1. to cheat (often followed byon ).

   How many of you have fudged on your taxes?

2. to fail to fulfill an obligation.

   For a variety of reasons, they had fudged on their promise.

3. to avoid coming to grips with a subject, issue, etc..

   He fudged on the matter of whether he would retire at the end of his three-year term.

4. to tamper with or misrepresent something, as to produce a desired result or allow leeway for error.

   Some of the men and women fudged on their ages.

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verb (used with object)

fudged, fudging

1. to avoid coming to grips with (a subject, issue, etc.); evade; dodge.

   He fudged a few of the direct questions.

2. to tamper with or misrepresent.

   The suggestion is that they simply fudged the figures to make sales look more impressive.

noun

Printing.

1. a small stereotype or a few lines of specially prepared type, bearing a newspaper bulletin, for replacing a detachable part of a page plate without the need to replate the entire page.

2. the bulletin thus printed, often in color.

3. a machine or attachment for printing such a bulletin.

fudge ³ American  

[fuhj] / fʌdʒ /

noun

1. nonsense or foolishness (often used as an interjection).

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verb (used without object)

fudged, fudging

1. to talk nonsense.

fudge ¹ British  

/ fʌdʒ /

noun

1. a small section of type matter in a box in a newspaper allowing late news to be included without the whole page having to be remade

2. the box in which such type matter is placed

3. the late news so inserted

4. a machine attached to a newspaper press for printing this

5. an unsatisfactory compromise reached to evade a difficult problem or controversial issue

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verb

1. (tr) to make or adjust in a false or clumsy way

2. (tr) to misrepresent; falsify

3. to evade (a problem, issue, etc); dodge; avoid

fudge ² British  

/ fʌdʒ /

noun

1. foolishness; nonsense

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interjection

1. a mild exclamation of annoyance

verb

1. (intr) to talk foolishly or emptily

fudge ³ British  

/ fʌdʒ /

noun

1. a soft variously flavoured sweet made from sugar, butter, cream, etc

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Etymology

Origin of fudge¹

An Americanism dating to 1895–1900; of uncertain origin; the word was early in its history associated with female college campuses, where fudge-making was popular; however, attempts to explain it as a derivative of fudge ² ( def. ) (preparing the candy supposedly being an excuse to “fudge” on dormitory rules) are dubious and probably after-the-fact speculation

Origin of fudge²

First recorded in 1665–75; origin uncertain; in earliest sense, “to contrive clumsily,” perhaps expressive variant of fadge “to fit, agree, do” (akin to Middle English feien, Old English fēgan “to fit together, join, bind”); fudge ¹ and fudge ³ are developments of this word or are independent coinages

Origin of fudge³

First recorded in 1690–1700; of uncertain origin; cf. fudge ²

Explanation

Fudge is a rich, chocolate candy made with plenty of sugar, cream, and butter. Fudge is usually cut into squares and eaten in small quantities. While fudge comes in many different flavors, it's usually chocolate. In the US, another kind of fudge is smooth, melted chocolate that can be poured over the top of ice cream. When fudge is a verb, it means to avoid straightforwardly answering a question or addressing a subject: "Just answer my question and don't fudge the issue!" Fudge is an American word from college slang meaning "a made-up story."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fudge fudged fudging

It bills its more than 50 locations in 13 states as “highway oases,” and has plans to open more outposts offering its jerky, fudge and dizzying array of beaver-themed products.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026

A "chocolate doughnut Easter egg" triggers curiosity - a shell blended with shortbread and fudge pieces, topped with sprinkles.

From BBC ● Mar. 27, 2026

Internet phone wholesalers often operate across dozens of obscure international markets, and sell an intangible service—minutes of call traffic—that is easy to fudge on invoices and tax documents.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 11, 2026

While the ex-love of my life was back with her ex-beau in Michigan enjoying Mackinac Island fudge, I was ready to bury all regret and rethink my vow over a fruitless bowl of steel-cut oats.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 6, 2026

“Why not? I’ll be in Madrid, and then wherever, but we could—we could just talk, now and then. About hot fudge and butterscotch, maybe. Or your new life.”

From "Genuine Fraud" by E. Lockhart

During a January debate of candidates hoping to fill Nancy Pelosi’s set, Mr. Wiener fudged the issue.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026

Or, a cynic might say, the real inflation figures are easily fudged.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 17, 2026

President Joe Biden had slightly fudged that line, Green says.

From Barron's ● May 14, 2026

They simply plugged in the numbers they could easily find, fudged the rest and threw it on a poster board.

From Salon ● Apr. 5, 2026

This did not mean that we were necessarily wrong—with luck the extra water might be fudged into vacant regions on the periphery of our helix.

From "Double Helix" by James D. Watson

That information reporting is a cornerstone of tax compliance, and without it, confusion and fudging can take hold.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 4, 2026

He kept dodging and fudging, saying there was something written or that maybe he’d reviewed some written material, but he wouldn’t use the words declination memo.

From Slate ● Nov. 24, 2025

From there, it was a matter of fudging size and distance with a life-size TV tower.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 8, 2025

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Mr Gershkovich interviewed medical students forced to treat infected patients and statisticians who were concerned the state was fudging Russia's case numbers.

From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2024

“Suddenly I became aware that an adenine thymine pair was identical in shape to a guanine cytosine pair...no fudging was required to make the two types of base pairs identical in shape.”

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Related Words

• evade
• exaggerate
• falsify
• overstate