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# fudging the figures

phrase (verb phrase: fudge the figures, fudges, fudged, fudging the figures; also «fudging the numbers», «cooking the books»)

«fudging the figures» in the English dictionary: in the primary school — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## In the primary school

Source: Mova's pupils' dictionary. Licence: [Elamur Cosmic License](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/LICENSE/). Reviewed: the dictionary the pupils of Mova's primary school read; its examples quote the lessons and public-domain tales. Ships with Mova.

### Meaning

1. (euphemism) changing or presenting numbers dishonestly so they look better than they are; cheating with numbers.
2. (milder) making numbers vague or rounding them to hide a problem.

### In the lessons

Used in business, politics, school and news to describe dishonest maths without the hard word «lying» or «fraud»; informal, all regions. A key idea in data and statistics lessons: always check where numbers come from.

### Examples

- The manager was sacked for fudging the figures.
- Critics accused the government of fudging the figures on hospital waiting lists.
- Don't fudge the figures in your science experiment; record what really happened.
- He fudged the figures so the shop looked more profitable.
- "Are you fudging the figures?" asked the teacher, looking at my perfect results.
- The auditor discovered someone had been fudging the figures for years.
- Fudging the figures is a form of cheating.
- Our maths teacher showed how fudging the figures can make a graph look misleading.

### Note

Trap: «fudge» is also a sweet; here it means to fiddle dishonestly. Plain words: faking or twisting the numbers, cheating. In maths problems, if the figures are fudged, the given numbers can't be trusted.