Meaning & use
defrauder
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Meanings
nouncountableformallaw
A person who dishonestly gets money or property from others, especially by tricking them or breaking an agreement.
Grammar: Countable: one defrauder, several defrauders; it names the person, not the act.
Patterns
- a defrauder of someone
- be accused of being a defrauder
The court found that the two defrauders had taken millions from small investors.
She was described in the report as a serial defrauder who targeted elderly clients.
nouncountableformallaw
Someone who cheats a company, bank, or government out of money it is owed.
Grammar: Often used with an institution after 'of' or before a noun: a tax defrauder, a defrauder of the state.
Patterns
- a tax defrauder
- defrauder of a company
Tax defrauders face heavy fines as well as prison sentences.
Investigators built a case against a group of benefit defrauders.
Word forms
| plural | defrauders |
|---|
Common combinations
- a convicted defrauder
- A convicted defrauder cannot serve as a company director.
- a serial defrauder
- Police called him a serial defrauder with dozens of victims.
- defrauder of the public
- He was branded a defrauder of the public for misusing charity funds.
- accused of being a defrauder
- The manager was accused of being a defrauder after the accounts vanished.
- expose a defrauder
- The newspaper helped expose a defrauder who had posed as a lawyer.
Synonyms and how they differ
- swindler
- Very close in meaning, but 'swindler' stresses clever trickery in a deal, while 'defrauder' is the more legal, formal word.
- fraudster
- Common in British journalism for someone who commits fraud; 'defrauder' is rarer and sounds more old-fashioned and legal.
- cheat
- Broader and more informal, covering dishonest behavior in games and exams, not only taking money.
- embezzler
- Only for someone who steals money they were trusted to look after, such as an employee; a defrauder may operate from outside.
Opposites
Word family
- defraud verb
- to take money or property from someone dishonestly
- fraud noun
- the crime of getting money by deception
- fraudulent adjective
- done in order to deceive people for money
- fraudulently adverb
- in a way that involves deception for money
- defraudation noun
- rare, formal word for the act of defrauding
Commonly confused: defrauder or defender?
defrauder vs defender
'Defender' means someone who protects or argues for a person or idea, while 'defrauder' means someone who cheats people out of money. The two sound similar but are opposites in spirit.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'defrauder' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Defrauder' is a countable noun for a person who cheats others out of money, so 'A defrauder of elderly clients' fits. Option 0 wrongly suggests the lawyer is helping such a person, option 2 uses the noun as a verb, and option 3 uses it as an adjective.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “defrauder”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.