fudged; fudging
2
: to fail to come to grips with : dodge
fudged the issue
1
: to exceed the proper bounds or limits of something
feel that the author has fudged a little on the … rules for crime fiction—
Newsweek
Newsweek2
: to fail to perform as expected
3
: to avoid commitment : hedge
the government's tendency to fudge on delicate matters of policy—Claire Sterling
Claire Sterling1
: foolish nonsense
—often used interjectionally to express annoyance, disappointment, or disbelief
2
: a soft creamy candy made typically of sugar, milk, butter, and flavoring
3
: something that is fudged
especially
: a bending of rules or a compromise
Synonyms
Verb
Noun
- applesauce [slang]
- balderdash
- baloney
- boloney
- beans
- bilge
- blah
- blah-blah
- blarney
- blather
- blatherskite
- blither
- bosh
- bull [slang]
- bunk
- bunkum
- buncombe
- claptrap
- codswallop [British]
- crapola [slang]
- crock
- drivel
- drool
- fiddle
- fiddle-faddle
- fiddlesticks
- flannel [British]
- flapdoodle
- folderol
- falderal
- folly
- foolishness
- garbage
- guff
- hogwash
- hokeypokey
- hokum
- hoodoo
- hooey
- horsefeathers [slang]
- humbug
- humbuggery
- jazz
- malarkey
- malarky
- moonshine
- muck
- nerts [slang]
- nonsense
- nuts
- piffle
- poppycock
- punk
- rot
- rubbish
- senselessness
- silliness
- slush
- stupidity
- taradiddle
- tarradiddle
- tommyrot
- tosh
- trash
- trumpery
- twaddle
Examples of fudge in a Sentence
Verb
Politicians have been known to fudge the issues.
The treasurer fudged the figures.
It was later discovered that the researchers had fudged their data.
Noun
We bought three kinds of fudge.
His response to these charges has been a series of denials and fudges.
Recent Examples on the WebTIME, 23 Oct. 2023
But ride-hail drivers say that sometimes the rules of the road need to be fudged.
—Aarian Marshall, WIRED, 14 Aug. 2023
Justified: City Primeval takes the neo-western out of Harlan County, Kentucky, where Raylan grew up (and dug coal) and shifts the setting to Detroit, fudging the IRL timeline and jumping forward to a setting that comes 15 years after the original series' conclusion.
—Brett Williams, Men's Health, 1 Aug. 2023
Company owners, hungry for multimillion-dollar contracts, have put up phony fronts to get certified as minority or women-owned or fudge the percentages of work that actually went to minority subcontractors.
—Gregory Royal Pratt, Chicago Tribune, 13 July 2023
But on the evidence of the character as written, and especially as impersonated by Sean Hayes in a gloomy if accurate performance, Levant doesn’t erase the line so much as fudge it.
—Jesse Green, New York Times, 24 Apr. 2023
While her psychodrama with Beach simmered in the West Village, Calloway fudged her transcript and applied to Cambridge again.
—Becca Rothfeld, Washington Post, 22 June 2023
But things got complicated because Outcome began fudging the numbers.
—Ananya Bhattacharya, Quartz, 12 Apr. 2023
Among those prosecuted were parents who paid Singer more than $6 million, Ivy League coaches who opened sham spots on their rosters for Singer's clients in exchange for bribes and test administrators who were paid to fudge applicants' entrance exam scores.
—Miles Cohen, ABC News, 4 Jan. 2023
Southern Living Test Kitchen, Southern Living, 16 Nov. 2023
The parting bite was coconut fudge finished with edible gold leaf, a nod to the Diwali rituals of eating sweets and giving gifts.
—Mahira Rivers, New York Times, 16 Nov. 2023
Sounds like the perfect reason to whip up some homemade fudge.
—Southern Living Editors, Southern Living, 27 Oct. 2023
The Cherry Ridge Ripple — cherry ice cream with Bing cherry halves and fudge ripple — won first place at the World Dairy Expo in 2021.
—Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 9 Aug. 2023
Get The Recipe 15 of 16 Turtle Trifle Inspired by classic turtle candy, this dessert includes pecan pie, caramel, and chocolate fudge.
—Cameron Beall, Southern Living, 25 Oct. 2023
The recipe gets its hot chocolate name from an easy fudge sauce, which is heated with chocolate stout before making the float.
—Andrea Beck, Better Homes & Gardens, 17 Aug. 2023
Mary-Ellen McDonald, 74, makes ice cream sundaes with homemade fudge sauce by the half-gallon.
—Amelia Nierenberg, BostonGlobe.com, 29 July 2023
Essentially an ice cream sundae on a stick, Dad’s go-to Dairy Queen menu item features vanilla ice cream, plenty of peanuts, and a center layer of chocolatey fudge, all enveloped in a coating that’s akin to our Two-Ingredient Chocolate Shell.
—Karla Walsh, Better Homes & Gardens, 10 Oct. 2023
See More
Verb
And that, analysts say, has been an invitation for unscrupulous sellers to fudge — and for some shippers to adopt a see-no-evil approach.
—TIME, 23 Oct. 2023
But ride-hail drivers say that sometimes the rules of the road need to be fudged.
—Aarian Marshall, WIRED, 14 Aug. 2023
Justified: City Primeval takes the neo-western out of Harlan County, Kentucky, where Raylan grew up (and dug coal) and shifts the setting to Detroit, fudging the IRL timeline and jumping forward to a setting that comes 15 years after the original series' conclusion.
—Brett Williams, Men's Health, 1 Aug. 2023
Company owners, hungry for multimillion-dollar contracts, have put up phony fronts to get certified as minority or women-owned or fudge the percentages of work that actually went to minority subcontractors.
—Gregory Royal Pratt, Chicago Tribune, 13 July 2023
But on the evidence of the character as written, and especially as impersonated by Sean Hayes in a gloomy if accurate performance, Levant doesn’t erase the line so much as fudge it.
—Jesse Green, New York Times, 24 Apr. 2023
While her psychodrama with Beach simmered in the West Village, Calloway fudged her transcript and applied to Cambridge again.
—Becca Rothfeld, Washington Post, 22 June 2023
But things got complicated because Outcome began fudging the numbers.
—Ananya Bhattacharya, Quartz, 12 Apr. 2023
Among those prosecuted were parents who paid Singer more than $6 million, Ivy League coaches who opened sham spots on their rosters for Singer's clients in exchange for bribes and test administrators who were paid to fudge applicants' entrance exam scores.
—Miles Cohen, ABC News, 4 Jan. 2023
Noun
This recipe reminds us a little of fudge though, with its creamy, unctuous texture and toothsome bite, yet its sweetness comes from powdered sugar.
—Southern Living Test Kitchen, Southern Living, 16 Nov. 2023
The parting bite was coconut fudge finished with edible gold leaf, a nod to the Diwali rituals of eating sweets and giving gifts.
—Mahira Rivers, New York Times, 16 Nov. 2023
Sounds like the perfect reason to whip up some homemade fudge.
—Southern Living Editors, Southern Living, 27 Oct. 2023
The Cherry Ridge Ripple — cherry ice cream with Bing cherry halves and fudge ripple — won first place at the World Dairy Expo in 2021.
—Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 9 Aug. 2023
Get The Recipe 15 of 16 Turtle Trifle Inspired by classic turtle candy, this dessert includes pecan pie, caramel, and chocolate fudge.
—Cameron Beall, Southern Living, 25 Oct. 2023
The recipe gets its hot chocolate name from an easy fudge sauce, which is heated with chocolate stout before making the float.
—Andrea Beck, Better Homes & Gardens, 17 Aug. 2023
Mary-Ellen McDonald, 74, makes ice cream sundaes with homemade fudge sauce by the half-gallon.
—Amelia Nierenberg, BostonGlobe.com, 29 July 2023
Essentially an ice cream sundae on a stick, Dad’s go-to Dairy Queen menu item features vanilla ice cream, plenty of peanuts, and a center layer of chocolatey fudge, all enveloped in a coating that’s akin to our Two-Ingredient Chocolate Shell.
—Karla Walsh, Better Homes & Gardens, 10 Oct. 2023
See More
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'fudge.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Verb
origin unknown
First Known Use
Verb
1674, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a
Noun
1766, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Phrases Containing fudge
Articles Related to fudge
Dictionary Entries Near fudge
Cite this Entry
“Fudge.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fudge. Accessed 9 Dec. 2023.
Copy Citation
Kids Definition
fudge
2 of 2 noun1
: foolish nonsense
2
: a soft creamy candy made typically of milk, sugar, butter, and flavoring
More from Merriam-Webster on fudge
Nglish: Translation of fudge for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of fudge for Arabic Speakers
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about fudge
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