trump up

verb

1. (tr, adverb) to concoct or invent (a charge, accusation, etc) so as to deceive or implicate someone

Idioms and Phrases

Concoct fraudulently, fabricate, as in They trumped up a charge of conspiracy, or She had trumped up another excuse for not doing the work. This expression, first recorded in 1695, uses trump in the sense of “devise fraudulently,” a usage otherwise obsolete.

Example Sentences

A source close to Siddiq has previously described the allegations as "trumped up" and designed to damage her aunt.

Read more on BBC

A source close to her called these "trumped up charges".

Read more on BBC

He was arrested on trumped up charges and lost everything.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Khan said exiled journalists often face two major legal threats from their home countries: “investigation, prosecution and punishment in absentia, and the pursuit of their extradition on trumped up criminal charges.”

Read more on Seattle Times

“In my mind, they trumped up the sanction to cease my communications,” Longshore said.

Read more on Seattle Times

Related Words

• build up 
• compose 
• create 
• design 
• erect 
• establish 
• fashion 
• forge 
• form 
• formulate 
• found 
• manufacture 
• organize 
• produce 
• put up 
• set up 
• shape