Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A deception practiced in order to induce another to give up possession of property or surrender a right.
  • noun A piece of trickery; a trick.
  • noun One that defrauds; a cheat.
  • noun One who assumes a false pose; an impostor.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To cheat; defraud.
  • noun An act or course of deception deliberately practised with the view of gaining a wrong or unfair advantage; deceit; trick; an artifice by which the right or interest of another is injured.
  • noun Specifically, in law, an artifice employed by one person for the purpose of deceiving another, to the prejudice of his right; the causing or making use of the error of another for the attainment of an illegal object.
  • noun A position artfully contrived to work damage or prejudice; a snare.
  • noun A deceiver; a cheat; a pretender; also, a fraudulent production; something intended to deceive.
  • noun A person who talks piously, but is not pious at heart; a religious humbug.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Deception deliberately practiced with a view to gaining an unlawful or unfair advantage; artifice by which the right or interest of another is injured; injurious stratagem; deceit; trick.
  • noun (Law) An intentional perversion of truth for the purpose of obtaining some valuable thing or promise from another.
  • noun obsolete A trap or snare.
  • noun (Law) an act, statement, or omission which operates as a fraud, although perhaps not intended to be such.
  • noun (Ch. Hist.) a fraud contrived and executed to benefit the church or accomplish some good end, upon the theory that the end justified the means.
  • noun (Law) an English statute (1676), the principle of which is incorporated in the legislation of all the States of this country, by which writing with specific solemnities (varying in the several statutes) is required to give efficacy to certain dispositions of property.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Any act of deception carried out for the purpose of unfair, undeserved and/or unlawful gain.
  • noun The assumption of a false identity to such deceptive end.
  • noun A person who performs any such trick.
  • verb obsolete To defraud

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a person who makes deceitful pretenses
  • noun intentional deception resulting in injury to another person
  • noun something intended to deceive; deliberate trickery intended to gain an advantage

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English fraude, from Old French, from Latin fraus, fraud-.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Recorded since 1345, from Old French fraude, from Latin fraus ("deceit, injury, offence").

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word fraud.

Examples

  • The phrase "fraud as a business model" comes from a comment referenced in the presentation made by Richard Cordray, then the Attorney General of Ohio and the current Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, when he discussed foreclosure fraud.

    Janet Tavakoli: "Fraud As a Business Model" Janet Tavakoli 2011

  • In partisan Republican circles, the pursuit of voter fraud is code for suppressing the votes of minorities and poor people.

    Archive 2007-03-01 Ann Althouse 2007

  • "In partisan Republican circles, the pursuit of voter fraud is code for suppressing the votes of minorities and poor people."

    Archive 2007-03-01 Ann Althouse 2007

  • Earlier today, Zellweger said she had to clarify, saying, "The term fraud is simply legal language and not a reflection of Kenny ` s character."

    CNN Transcript Sep 16, 2005 2005

  • After the 2000 election, if not before, Karl Rove and other Republican operatives decided that Republican political prospects would be immeasurably improved if they would only repeat, as often as possible, the unsupported claim that voter fraud is rampant, and take substantial steps to stem such nonexistent voter "fraud" -- all in an attempt to suppress Democratic votes.

    Balkinization 2007

  • After the 2000 election, if not before, Karl Rove and other Republican operatives decided that Republican political prospects would be immeasurably improved if they would only repeat, as often as possible, the unsupported claim that voter fraud is rampant, and take substantial steps to stem such nonexistent voter "fraud" -- all in an attempt to suppress Democratic votes.

    Balkinization 2007

  • After the 2000 election, if not before, Karl Rove and other Republican operatives decided that Republican political prospects would be immeasurably improved if they would only repeat, as often as possible, the unsupported claim that voter fraud is rampant, and take substantial steps to stem such nonexistent voter "fraud" -- all in an attempt to suppress Democratic votes.

    Balkinization 2007

  • After the 2000 election, if not before, Karl Rove and other Republican operatives decided that Republican political prospects would be immeasurably improved if they would only repeat, as often as possible, the unsupported claim that voter fraud is rampant, and take substantial steps to stem such nonexistent voter "fraud" -- all in an attempt to suppress Democratic votes.

    Balkinization 2007

  • After the 2000 election, if not before, Karl Rove and other Republican operatives decided that Republican political prospects would be immeasurably improved if they would only repeat, as often as possible, the unsupported claim that voter fraud is rampant, and take substantial steps to stem such nonexistent voter "fraud" -- all in an attempt to suppress Democratic votes.

    Balkinization 2007

  • After the 2000 election, if not before, Karl Rove and other Republican operatives decided that Republican political prospects would be immeasurably improved if they would only repeat, as often as possible, the unsupported claim that voter fraud is rampant, and take substantial steps to stem such nonexistent voter "fraud" -- all in an attempt to suppress Democratic votes.

    Balkinization 2007

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.