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Synonyms

trump up

British  

verb

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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
trump up Idioms  

  1. 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

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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

From BBC

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

From BBC

He was arrested on trumped up charges and lost everything.

From 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.”

From Seattle Times

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

From Seattle Times

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.