fraud
Americannoun
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deceit, trickery, sharp practice, or breach of confidence, perpetrated for profit or to gain some unfair or dishonest advantage.
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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
Related Words
See duplicity.
Other Word Forms
- antifraud adjective
- fraudful adjective
- fraudfully adverb
- prefraud noun
Etymology
Origin of fraud
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English fraude, from Old French, from Medieval Latin fraud-, stem of fraus “deceit, injury”
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.
What do a tax fraud investigator, a physical therapist and a health insurance salesman have in common?
From Barron's
Audits and prosecutions show that California has experienced its share of fraud, particularly in complex programs involving emergency aid, healthcare and unemployment insurance.
From Los Angeles Times
In New York, civil fraud or elder-financial-abuse claims must be filed within six years from when the fraud took place or two years from when it was discovered or reasonably should have been discovered.
From MarketWatch
Wall Street has a complicated history with binary options, which have long been associated with risk-it-all behavior and fraud.
Instead, Mr. Mahan thinks the state should focus “on waste, fraud and abuse. I don’t get politicians who defend the status quo and pretend that government couldn’t possibly be more efficient, more effective, more technology-enabled.”
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.
