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tamper

/ˈtæmpər//ˈtæmpə/·verb
to interfere with something secretly, so it no longer works as it should
Fig. 1 — The weight sits on the pan and the needle says five, the way it has said five all season.
01Definition

To tamper is to meddle where you have no right — quietly, and to someone's cost. The verb is inseparable from its preposition: you tamper WITH a lock, with evidence, with the brakes, and the phrase always implies interference that is unauthorised, hidden, and corrupting. A sixteenth-century variant of temper ('to mix, to work upon'), it kept the working and lost the innocence. The modern world writes the word onto its packaging: a tamper-evident seal cannot stop the interference, but it makes sure the interference shows.

02In use
  • iTamper-evident seals deter anyone hoping to open the jar unseen.
  • iiSomeone had tampered with the scale until it began to distort every reading it gave.
  • iiiThe defendant was charged with tampering with evidence before the trial.
03Collocations
  • tamper with evidence
  • tamper-evident packaging
  • tamper with the results
  • signs of tampering
  • tamper-proof

Family tampering (noun) · tamper-evident (adjective)

04Relations

=interfere with, meddle with, doctor, tinker with, rig

≠leave intact, safeguard

06TOEFL & IELTS

A crime-and-consequences verb: TOEFL passages use it for doctored data and rigged mechanisms, news English for evidence tampering and match-fixing. Grammar is the testable part — tamper is nothing without WITH; 'tamper the results' is simply wrong. Keep it clear of two lookalikes: temper (to moderate, or a mood) shares the ancestry but not the meaning, and taper (to narrow) shares nothing but letters. The near-synonym tinker is innocent and open; tampering is neither.

07Asked
What does 'tamper with' mean, and is the 'with' required?
To interfere with something secretly and harmfully — and yes, the with is not optional: tamper is an inseparable phrasal verb. You tamper with a meter, with medication, with a jury; there is no grammatical way to 'tamper something'. The preposition is also the meaning's fingerprint: what follows with is always something that was working, or trusted, until the interference.
What is the difference between tamper and temper?
They are historical relatives that have fully parted. Temper is to moderate or toughen — temper criticism with praise, tempered steel — plus the noun for a mood. Tamper, born as a variant of temper meaning 'to work on something', specialised into secret, improper meddling. A judge tempers justice with mercy; a fixer tampers with the jury — one softens, the other corrupts.
What does tamper-evident mean, and how is it different from tamper-proof?
A tamper-evident seal admits it can be broken — its job is to make the breaking impossible to hide: the band snaps, the button pops, the film tears. Tamper-proof claims interference cannot happen at all, a promise engineers make sparingly. Most packaging is therefore tamper-evident, not tamper-proof: the design accepts the crime and defeats only the cover-up.
What does tampering with evidence mean?
Altering, hiding, planting or destroying anything that could matter to an investigation — wiping a phone, moving a weapon, editing a document. It is a criminal offence in itself, separate from whatever the evidence concerned. The legal phrase preserves the verb's exact core: the interference is secret, unauthorised, and aimed at corrupting something others rely on.
Is a tamper (the tool) related to the verb?
Different branch of the family: the tool noun is usually traced to tamp, 'to pack down firmly', so an espresso tamper or a road tamper presses material tight — honest work, nothing sinister. The scene above belongs entirely to the verb: nothing is packed down, something trusted is quietly re-tuned. If a barista hands you a tamper, no crime is being proposed.
How is tamper stronger than 'mess with' or 'tinker with'?
Intent and legitimacy. Tinkering is open and usually well-meant — you tinker with your own bike. Messing with is careless but casual. Tampering is the dark end of the scale: the interference is deliberate, concealed, unauthorised, and corrupts something others depend on — which is why laws, warranties and seals use this verb and not the friendlier ones.