tamper

¹ American  

[tam-per] / ˈtæm pər /

verb (used without object)

1. to meddle, especially for the purpose of altering, damaging, or misusing (usually followed bywith ).

   Someone has been tampering with the lock.

   Synonyms:

   interfere

2. to make changes in something, especially in order to falsify (usually followed bywith ).

   to tamper with official records.

3. to engage secretly or improperly in something.

4. to engage in underhand or corrupt dealings, especially in order to influence improperly (usually followed bywith ).

   Any lawyer who tries to tamper with a jury should be disbarred.

---

tamper ² American  

[tam-per] / ˈtæm pər /

noun

1. a person or thing that tamps.

---

tamper ¹ British  

/ ˈtæmpə /

verb

1. (usually foll by with) to interfere or meddle

2. to use corrupt practices such as bribery or blackmail

3. (usually foll by with) to attempt to influence or corrupt, esp by bribery

   to tamper with the jury

---

tamper ² British  

/ ˈtæmpə /

noun

1. a person or thing that tamps, esp an instrument for packing down tobacco in a pipe

2. a casing around the core of a nuclear weapon to increase its efficiency by reflecting neutrons and delaying the expansion

---

Other Word Forms

• tamperer noun
• untampered adjective

Etymology

Origin of tamper¹

First recorded in 1560–70; probably variant of temper (verb)

Origin of tamper²

tamp + -er ¹

Example Sentences

Earlier Tuesday the FBI released images showing a person in a full-face balaclava apparently tampering with a front-door camera outside Nancy Guthrie's home in the southwestern city of Tucson, Arizona.

From Barron's

Recorded at 1:47 a.m. on Feb. 1, they show an individual, wearing a balaclava, gloves and a backpack, appearing to tamper with the camera at Guthrie’s front porch the morning of her disappearance.

From Los Angeles Times

Law enforcement on Tuesday released photos and video of a masked individual appearing to tamper with the camera at Nancy Guthrie’s front door on the morning of her disappearance.

From The Wall Street Journal

I was not preparing to write about the tampered undercarriages of ski jumpers.

From The Wall Street Journal

Even the notion that the bitcoin network is secure from tampering is being challenged, as some investors have warned that the rise of quantum computing could threaten the network’s cryptographic security.

From MarketWatch

Related Words

• meddle
• monkey with
• tinker