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:
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
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
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
Several weeks after the funeral, a man who’d been arrested in Kansas for check forgery sent a letter to Sheriff Freas claiming that he had information concerning Anna’s murder.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
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
Mr. Holland’s information about the sheaves of Wilde forgeries that bedeviled booksellers’ shelves in the 1930s?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
He said they were detained in Istanbul after officials believed small design changes on their passports indicated forgeries.
From BBC ● Apr. 2, 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
Sometimes he talked to her of the Records Department and the impudent forgeries that he committed there.
From "1984" by George Orwell
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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.
