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:
In May 2025, a grand jury indicted Owens on one count of fraudulent schemes, one count of forgery, four counts of perjury and one count of tampering with physical evidence in Echard’s case.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 26, 2026
On Tuesday, the Jeju Provincial Police said Bu had falsely closed at least two high-profile cases and had been charged with forgery of public electronic records, obstruction of official duties and dereliction of duty.
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 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
A jury eventually declared the will a forgery.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
For ten seconds Chapter Eleven studied my documents, detecting no forgery, as the clouds burst overhead, and I made him get me one more piece of cake.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
Bardella, 31, tipped to be prime minister if Le Pen becomes France's president, wrote on X he "formally" rejected the allegations which he described as "crude forgeries", saying he would take legal action against Mediapart.
From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026
The forgeries have featured realistic-looking stamps generated with OpenAI, the research group found.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
He wouldn't tell us where he's now living or answer our questions about the alleged forgeries, or the investors he claimed he had, and asked us to email him with our questions instead.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 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
“Eva Seiler’s papers are all forgeries in any case,” I pointed out.
From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
