if you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything
Detailed reference entry for the English word "if-you-torture-the-data-long-enough-it-will-confess-to-anything", 63-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Wiktionary, and usage frequency ranked against an open word-frequency list covering the top 100,000 English words. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "if-you-torture-the-data-long-enough-it-will-confess-to-anything" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "if-you-torture-the-data-long-enough-it-will-confess-to-anything" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
The verdict
“if you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a proverb - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 64
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Statistics can be manipulated to support any conclusion.
Compare similar words
See how if you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything compares against similar English words.
Browse all word comparisons →| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | if you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proverb |
| Letters | 64 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “if you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for if you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything is 64 letters long, classified as a proverb. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Statistics can be manipulated to support any conclusion.".
No misspelling variants are generated for if you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: This phrase was coined by economist Ronald Coase. A closely related sentence had been published in Alfred Sauvy's book L'Opinion publique (The public opinion, éd. Presses universitaires de France, coll. « Que sais-je ? », 1961, p. 100): The figures are inno… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is if you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything, spelled I-F- -Y-O-U- -T-O-R-T-U-R-E- -T-H-E- -D-A-T-A- -L-O-N-G- -E-N-O-U-G-H-,- -I-T- -W-I-L-L- -C-O-N-F-E-S-S- -T-O- -A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1Statistics can be manipulated to support any conclusion.
Etymology
This phrase was coined by economist Ronald Coase. A closely related sentence had been published in Alfred Sauvy's book L'Opinion publique (The public opinion, éd. Presses universitaires de France, coll. « Que sais-je ? », 1961, p. 100): The figures are innocent people who, under solicitation, under torture, very quickly confess what is asked of them, even if it means retracting later. (Les chiffres sont des innocents qui, sous la sollicitation, sous la torture, avouent très vite ce qu'on leur demande, quitte à se rétracter plus tard.)
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Cite this page
Free to reuse with attribution (CC BY-SA). Copy the citation:
PlainSpell, “if you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything, English word data” (May 6, 2026). Derived from Wiktionary (kaikki.org, CC BY-SA) and an open word-frequency list. https://plainspell.com/en/word/if-you-torture-the-data-long-enough-it-will-confess-to-anything
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "if you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything"?
What does "if you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything" mean?
What is the origin of the word "if you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “if you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is I-F- -Y-O-U- -T-O-R-T-U-R-E- -T-H-E- -D-A-T-A- -L-O-N-G- -E-N-O-U-G-H-,- -I-T- -W-I-L-L- -C-O-N-F-E-S-S- -T-O- -A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter I in our English index: