forgery
Americannoun
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forgeries
plural
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the crime of falsely making or altering a writing by which the legal rights or obligations of another person are apparently affected; simulated signing of another person's name to any such writing whether or not it is also the forger's name.
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the production of a spurious work that is claimed to be genuine, as a coin, a painting, or the like.
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something, as a coin, a work of art, or a writing, produced by forgery.
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an act of producing something forged.
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Archaic. invention; artifice.
noun
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the act of reproducing something for a deceitful or fraudulent purpose
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something forged, such as a work of art or an antique
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criminal law
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the false making or altering of any document, such as a cheque or character reference (and including a postage stamp), or any tape or disc on which information is stored, intending that anyone shall accept it as genuine and so act to his or another's prejudice
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something forged
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criminal law the counterfeiting of a seal or die with intention to defraud
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of forgery
Explanation
If you painted a copy of the Mona Lisa and sold it to a museum, claiming it was the original, your painting could be called a forgery, and the crime you've committed is also forgery. Forgery is a legal word describing a white-collar crime that could involve faking a famous painting, making a false passport that claims you're the King of Swaziland, or copying your boss's signature onto a document. Both the crime of forgery and the sense of forge that means "to make" or "to sculpt" come from the Latin root word fabricare, or "fabricate."
Vocabulary lists containing forgery
List 4
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George Washington, Spymaster
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From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Although he has gone into hiding saying he fears for his life, he has said he will appear in court later this month to answer charges including forgery and impersonation.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
Prosecutors targeted six individuals with charges focused on document forgery and breach of trust, The Wall Street Journal reported External link.
From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026
He specialized in identifying and investigating sophisticated white collar crimes ranging from art forgery and insider trading to transnational fraud organizations and crimes involving crypto currency.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026
A former top officer of the Los Angeles Fire Department’s labor union was arrested Wednesday and charged with grand theft and forgery for allegedly stealing more than $82,000 from a charity for injured firefighters.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026
He spent a year and a half in an orphanage while his father served a jail term for forgery.
From "Twelve Angry Men" by Reginald Rose
The expert concluded that Hsieh’s signatures in the surprise will are forgeries.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 16, 2025
Previously, reports from these two laboratories accompanied two paintings proven to be forgeries in a BBC documentary, The Zaks Affair: Anatomy of a Fake Collection.
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2025
Lazarus rose in the ranks of the Los Angeles Police Department, becoming a detective in charge of art forgeries and thefts.
From Seattle Times ● May 21, 2024
But there are also many cases of clear forgeries and hoaxes—or, possibly, Native American monuments which have been culturally hijacked in the search for evidence of Vikings.
From Slate ● Nov. 11, 2023
The news of what had happened sped round the farm like wildfire.The bank-notes were forgeries!
From "Animal Farm: A Fairy Story" by George Orwell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
