Fraud

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /frɔːd/
• US IPA: /frÉ”d/
• cot-caught IPA: /frÉ‘d/
• Rhymes: -ɔːd

Origin

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

Full definition of fraud

Noun

1. Any act of deception carried out for the purpose of unfair, undeserved and/or unlawful gain.
• Alexander PopeIf success a lover's toil attends,
  Few ask, if fraud or force attained his ends.
• 2006, w, Internal Combustion Chapter 1, But electric vehicles and the batteries that made them run became ensnared in corporate scandals, fraud, and monopolistic corruption that shook the confidence of the nation and inspired automotive upstarts.
2. The assumption of a false identity to such deceptive end.
3. A person who performs any such trick.
4. (obsolete) A trap or snare.
• Miltonto draw the proud King Ahab into fraud

Synonyms

• (criminal) deceit
• trickery
• hoky-poky
• imposture
• (person) faker, fraudster, impostor, cheat(er), trickster

Related terms

• defraud
• fraudulence
• fraudulent
• fraudulently
• fraudulentness
• insurance fraud
• mail fraud
• pious fraud
• wire fraud

Verb

1. (obsolete) To defraud