defraud
verb (used with object)
to deprive of a right, money, or property by fraud.
had defrauded
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past perfectof defraud.past perfect
Used to express a completed action that took place before another specific past action occurred.
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.
Rather than losing money in a bad business deal, as the book described, the newspaper said the couple had lost their home after Winn had defrauded her employer of £64,000.
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2025
Prosecutors recently accused Mr. Pashinsky and five other men of participating in a convoluted fuel-buying scheme that they said had defrauded the Ukrainian government out of about $25 million several years before the war started.
From New York Times ● Feb. 28, 2024
The students getting the good news had been just like her — struggling with student debt because a for-profit college had defrauded them — with one difference, a difference that hadn’t seemed important until recently.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 22, 2023
Just this month, authorities said, he went twice to the police station in Hemet, where he’d moved into a trailer park, and claimed his family had defrauded and tried to poison him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 30, 2023
It was about this time that our hero had his thoughts suddenly recalled to the uncle who had defrauded him of his birthright.
From Tom, The Bootblack or, The Road to Success by Horatio Alger
