forgery

American  

[fawr-juh-ree, fohr-] / ˈfɔr dʒə ri, ˈfoʊr- /

noun

• forgeries
  plural

1. 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.

2. the production of a spurious work that is claimed to be genuine, as a coin, a painting, or the like.

3. something, as a coin, a work of art, or a writing, produced by forgery.

4. an act of producing something forged.

5. Archaic. invention; artifice.

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forgery British  

/ ˈfɔːdʒərɪ /

noun

1. the act of reproducing something for a deceitful or fraudulent purpose

2. something forged, such as a work of art or an antique

3. criminal law

   1. 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

   2. something forged

4. criminal law the counterfeiting of a seal or die with intention to defraud

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• forgeries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of forgery

First recorded in 1565–75; forge ¹ + -ery

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."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

forgery forgeries

"The forgery does not have to look convincing on its own," Van Ess added.

From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026

"The forgery does not have to look convincing on its own. It inherits the credibility of the map it was born on," van Ess added.

From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026

Forensic experts compare the legal battle over the will to the 1976 “Mormon Will” of Howard Hughes, which was declared a forgery.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026

The firefighters union also will be campaigning in a year when one of its recent leaders, Adam Walker, has been charged with one count each of grand theft and forgery.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 23, 2026

Madam Pince held the note up to the light, as though determined to detect a forgery, but it passed the test.

From "Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets" by J. K. Rowling

Frances Stonor Saunders’s “The Cultural Cold War” moves beyond outright falsehoods and forgeries to reveal how the Central Intelligence Agency secretly supported a wide-ranging collection of artists and intellectuals between 1947 and 1967.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

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

Smith was tried and found guilty the following year for knowingly selling and pawning his forgeries.

From BBC ● Nov. 13, 2023

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

FBI lab experts confirmed that the women’s signatures were excellent forgeries.

From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield

Related Words

• falsification