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Webster 1913 Edition


Fraud

Fraud

(fra̤d)
,
Noun.
[F.
fraude
, L.
fraus
,
fraudis
; prob. akin to Skr.
dhūrv
to injure,
dhvṛ
to cause to fall, and E.
dull
.]
1.
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.
If success a lover’s toil attends,
Few ask, if
fraud
or force attained his ends.
Pope.
2.
(Law)
An intentional perversion of truth for the purpose of obtaining some valuable thing or promise from another.
3.
A trap or snare.
[Obs.]
To draw the proud King Ahab into
fraud
.
Milton.
Syn. – Deception; deceit; guile; craft; wile; sham; strife; circumvention; stratagem; trick; imposition; cheat. See
Deception
.
Fraud′ful-ly
,
adv.

Webster 1828 Edition


Fraud

FRAUD

,
Noun.
[L. fraus.]
Deceit; deception; trick; artifice by which the right or interest of another is injured; a stratagem intended to obtain some undue advantage; an attempt to gain or the obtaining of an advantage over another by imposition or immoral means, particularly deception in contracts, or bargain and sale, either by stating falsehoods, or suppressing truth.
If success a lover's toil attends, who asks if force or fraud obtained his ends.

Definition 2024


fraud

fraud

See also: frauð

English

Noun

fraud (plural frauds)

  1. (law) The crime of stealing or otherwise illegally obtaining money by use of deception tactics.
  2. Any act of deception carried out for the purpose of unfair, undeserved and/or unlawful gain.
    • Alexander Pope
      If success a lover's toil attends, / Few ask, if fraud or force attained his ends.
    • 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 1, in Internal Combustion:
      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.
  3. The assumption of a false identity to such deceptive end.
  4. A person who performs any such trick.
  5. (obsolete) A trap or snare.
    • Milton
      to draw the proud King Ahab into fraud

Synonyms

Related terms

Translations

See also

Verb

fraud (third-person singular simple present frauds, present participle frauding, simple past and past participle frauded)

  1. (obsolete) To defraud

Translations