fraud
/ˈfɹɔːd/ noun, verb
Forms frauds frauding frauded
- noun (law) The crime of stealing or otherwise illegally obtaining money by use of deception tactics.
- noun Any act of deception carried out for the purpose of unfair, undeserved or unlawful gain.
- noun The assumption of a false identity to such deceptive end.
- noun A person who performs any such trick.
- noun (obsolete) A trap or snare.
- verb (transitive, obsolete) To defraud.
Synonyms
swindle scam deceit grift fiddle faker fraudster imposter trickster bamboozler bouncer bullshitter cheat cheater cogger cony-catcher crammer deceiver deceptor fabricator impostor pretender fake sham shammer pseudo pseud role player fraudulence dupery
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English fraude (recorded since 1345), from Old French fraude, a borrowing from Latin fraus (“deceit, injury, offence”).
Webster’s 1913
- 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 An intentional perversion of truth for the purpose of obtaining some valuable thing or promise from another.
Etymology [F. fraude, L. fraus, fraudis; prob. akin to Skr. dh to injure, dhv to cause to fall, and E. dull.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “fraud”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details