fudge
verb/fʌdʒ/
/fʌdʒ/
[transitive, intransitive] (rather informal)Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they fudge | /fʌdʒ/ /fʌdʒ/ |
| he / she / it fudges | /ˈfʌdʒɪz/ /ˈfʌdʒɪz/ |
| past simple fudged | /fʌdʒd/ /fʌdʒd/ |
| past participle fudged | /fʌdʒd/ /fʌdʒd/ |
| -ing form fudging | /ˈfʌdʒɪŋ/ /ˈfʌdʒɪŋ/ |
- to present or deal with something in a way that avoids giving clear and accurate information
- fudge something Politicians are often very clever at fudging the issue.
- I asked how long he was staying, but he fudged the answer.
- fudge on something They simply fudged on the details.
Word Originearly 17th cent.: probably an alteration of obsolete fadge ‘to fit’. Early usage was as a verb in the sense ‘turn out as expected’, also ‘merge together’: this probably gave rise to its use in confectionery. In the late 17th cent. the verb came to mean ‘fit together in a clumsy or underhand manner’, which included facts or figures being cobbled together in a superficially convincing way: this led to the exclamation ‘fudge!’Definitions on the go
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