Meaning & use
salami slicing
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountable
The practice of achieving a goal gradually through many small steps that each seem harmless.
Grammar: Uncountable: no plural and no 'a' — say 'salami slicing', not 'a salami slicing'.
Patterns
- salami slicing of something
- salami slicing by someone
- accuse someone of salami slicing
Critics say the new fees are salami slicing: each one is small, but together they cost a fortune.
The committee warned against salami slicing of the budget, where tiny cuts slowly destroy a service.
Salami slicing lets a government expand its powers without any single law that people notice.
noununcountabletechnicaldisapproving
In research, the unfair practice of splitting one study into several small papers to get more publications.
Grammar: Uncountable and technical; common in discussions of academic ethics.
Patterns
- salami slicing of research
- be guilty of salami slicing
The journal rejected the paper because it looked like salami slicing of a single experiment.
Young researchers are sometimes pressured into salami slicing to improve their publication record.
noununcountablecomputingtechnical
In computing, a slow series of small unauthorized transfers or edits that add up to a large theft or change.
Grammar: Uncountable; used in security writing about fraud and data theft.
Patterns
- salami slicing attack
- detect salami slicing
A salami slicing attack takes a fraction of a cent from thousands of accounts.
Banks use software to detect salami slicing before the losses become large.
Common combinations
- a form of salami slicing
- Taking a few cents from every account is a form of salami slicing.
- accuse someone of salami slicing
- The auditors accused the manager of salami slicing to hide the overspend.
- salami slicing tactics
- Their salami slicing tactics made the takeover look gradual and harmless.
- resort to salami slicing
- When big reforms fail, politicians often resort to salami slicing.
Synonyms and how they differ
- gradualism
- Gradualism is neutral and simply means moving in small steps; salami slicing is disapproving and suggests the steps are used to avoid scrutiny.
- incrementalism
- Incrementalism is a formal, neutral term for step-by-step change, while salami slicing implies something sneaky.
Opposites
Word family
- salami noun
- A spicy sausage; the image behind the phrase comes from slicing it thinly.
- slice verb
- To cut something into thin flat pieces.
Commonly confused: salami slicing or salami tactics?
salami slicing vs salami tactics
A very close phrase with the same idea of gradual, piece-by-piece action; 'salami slicing' is more common in business and research writing.
Practice
The auditors said the company had used salami slicing, which means it had ______.
Choose one answer.
Salami slicing means many tiny steps that each look harmless but together have a big effect. Option 0 describes one large action, which is the opposite of the gradual idea.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “salami slicing”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.