turn the scale

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

turn the scale (third-person singular simple present turns the scale, present participle turning the scale, simple past and past participle turned the scale)

1. (idiomatic) To decide or determine a balanced situation.
   • 1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “chapter 1”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC:

     Perhaps Charles Strickland's power and originality would scarcely have sufficed to turn the scale if the remarkable mythopoeic faculty of mankind had not brushed aside with impatience a story which disappointed all its craving for the extraordinary.

Synonyms

• tip the scales

Derived terms

• turn the scales at