fraud
Americannoun
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frauds
plural
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deceit, trickery, sharp practice, or breach of confidence, perpetrated for profit or to gain some unfair or dishonest advantage.
-
a particular instance of such deceit or trickery.
mail fraud; election frauds.
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any deception, trickery, or humbug.
That diet book is a fraud and a waste of time.
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a person who makes deceitful pretenses; sham; poseur.
noun
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deliberate deception, trickery, or cheating intended to gain an advantage
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an act or instance of such deception
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something false or spurious
his explanation was a fraud
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informal a person who acts in a false or deceitful way
Synonym Usage
See duplicity.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of fraud
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English fraude, from Old French, from Medieval Latin fraud-, stem of fraus “deceit, injury”
Explanation
A fraud is a something that deceives or tricks another person, usually to get their money. Frauds are dishonest. A fraud is something that sounds too good to be true — because it isn't. If you're promised millions of dollars by anyone on the Internet, that's got to be a fraud. Anyone trying to sell you a bridge is committing fraud. Identity theft is a type of fraud. Democrats and Republicans frequently accuse the other party of fraud when it comes to counting votes. You can also tell a person who is fake or an impostor is a fraud.
Vocabulary lists containing fraud
A Web of Lies
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The Best Starting Words for Wordle
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Smoke and Mirrors: The Lingo of Illusion and Deception
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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:
Anthropic received early funding from effective-altruism adherents including Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, who is serving a 25-year term in prison after conviction on federal fraud and conspiracy charges.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
"The reality is you only stopped stealing money because suspicions were raised about your lifestyle, investigations took place and your fraud was discovered."
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
Ironically, Musk actually missed one of the biggest areas of waste, fraud and abuse in the entire system.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026
US Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that software giant Microsoft was being suspended from a key visa program as part of a fraud crackdown by President Donald Trump's administration.
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
“I am actually protesting to my counterparties that there must be fraud in the marketplace for credit default swaps to be at all-time lows,” Burry wrote in an e-mail to an investor he trusted.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
Now they crowdsource questions about when the beds will come and how they will work and argue over which medbed whistleblowers are real and which are frauds.
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026
The FBI handles international cyber frauds and cross-border financial crimes.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 14, 2026
Banks have been grappling with a surge in scams and frauds driven by sophisticated criminal operations located in parts of Southeast Asia and Africa.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
The idea is to get people meeting in person as quickly as possible because online dating has become a minefield littered with deception and frauds.
From BBC ● May 21, 2026
The professionals made no secret of their disdain for the amateurs, whom they regarded as annoyances, cranks, or frauds.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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.
