Tamper Meaning
/ˈtæm.pə(ɹ)/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA person or thing that tamps.
nounA person or thing that tamps., A tool used to tamp something down, such as tobacco in a pipe.
Sentence Examples
Don't tamper with anything else.
Be careful not to tamper with it.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The engineer warned that no one should ____ with the machine's delicate settings.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
It is a legal offense to ____ with any of the safety equipment that is installed in the public building today.
Word Origin & History
From tamp + -er.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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."
— 1640, Joseph Hall, Christian Moderation, London: Nathaniel Butter, Book 1, § 7, p. 70:
"[…] 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 […]"
— 1641, John Milton, Of Reformation, Thomas Underhill, page 25:
"[…] 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."
— 1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter VII, in Rob Roy. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 210:
"These extraordinary capacities of life have been ignored by the practitioners of chemical control who have brought to their task […] no humility before the vast forces with which they tamper."
— 1962, Rachel Carson, chapter 17, in Silent Spring, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, page 297:
"Ain't no use to fight it / Don't tamper with my destiny / Any way you slice it / I'm in the hands of fate, you see"
— 1977, The Originals, “Been Decided”, in Down to Love Town:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The engineer warned that no one should ____ with the machine's delicate settings.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
It is a legal offense to ____ with any of the safety equipment that is installed in the public building today.