Tampering

How to spell tampering

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce tampering

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does tampering mean?

1. nounThe act of interfering with something or making unauthorised changes, often to cause damage or deceive.

Tampering in a sentence

• The broken seal was clear evidence of tampering before the parcel arrived.

• The jury dismissed the recording after experts found signs of tampering.

Where does tampering come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word grows out of the verb 'tamper', which began life in the 1500s as a variant spelling and pronunciation of 'temper'. 'Temper' itself comes from the Latin temperare, meaning 'to mix in due proportion' or 'to regulate', and in early English 'tamper' literally meant to mix or work materials such as clay and mortar into the right consistency. From the idea of meddling with a mixture, the sense drifted toward meddling more generally, and by the late 1500s 'tamper with' had taken on its modern flavour of interfering improperly or making unauthorised changes to something. The '-ing' form simply turns that verb into a gerund or present participle. Remembering that it shares an ancestor with 'temper' explains the single 'm' and the 'amp' spelling, since both descend from the same Latin root.

How the word is built

• tamper (to meddle or interfere, an alteration of 'temper')
• -ing (forming a gerund or present participle)