paper trail
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of paper trail
First recorded in 1975–80
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.
She becomes the de facto “keeper” of these letters and more mementos — a “strange gift,” she writes, the paper trail of something that should never have happened.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2026
Money, that eternal source of marital friction, offers a paper trail for the unraveling of countless marriages.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 19, 2026
For one, he doesn’t have the provocative paper trail that Dhillon has.
From Salon ● Apr. 12, 2026
As your story illustrates, the paper trail should be followed meticulously, particularly if there are notable gaps in the paper trail itself.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 2, 2026
A paper trail to a Chickasaw great-grandfather none of them had ever known was a path into a past she’d spent her whole life escaping.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
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.
