Meaning & use
defrauding
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“defrauding” is a form of “defraud”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
verbtransitivelaw
Illegally cheating someone out of money, property or rights by deliberate deception; the -ing form of defraud.
Grammar: Takes an object: defrauding customers; of introduces what was lost: defrauding him of his savings.
Patterns
- defrauding someone
- defrauding someone of something
He was arrested for defrauding elderly residents of their savings.
Defrauding the tax authorities can lead to a prison sentence.
The manager was accused of defrauding the company through fake invoices.
noununcountablelaw
The act or crime of deceiving people to take their money or property, referred to as an activity.
Grammar: Used as a gerund noun: defrauding is a serious offense.
Patterns
- charged with defrauding someone
Defrauding investors is treated as a serious financial crime.
She was charged with defrauding a charity.
Prosecutors say the scheme involved years of defrauding clients.
Word forms
| base form | defraud |
|---|---|
| third person singular | defrauds |
| past tense | defrauded |
| past participle | defrauded |
Common combinations
- charged with defrauding
- Two men were charged with defrauding the bank.
- defrauding investors
- He admitted defrauding investors out of millions.
- defrauding the government
- They were convicted of defrauding the government.
- conspiracy to defraud
- The pair faced a charge of conspiracy to defraud.
- accused of defrauding
- The founder was accused of defrauding customers.
Synonyms and how they differ
- swindling
- Swindling is more informal and often used for cheating individuals in a clever, deceptive scheme.
- cheating
- Cheating is much broader and can be used for games or relationships as well as money.
- scamming
- Scamming is informal and usually describes a quick trick, especially online.
- embezzling
- Embezzling means stealing money entrusted to you, whereas defrauding means tricking others.
Opposites
Word family
- fraud noun
- deliberate deception for gain
- fraudulent adjective
- involving or done by fraud
- fraudster noun
- a person who commits fraud
- defrauder noun
- someone who defrauds others
Commonly confused: defrauding or defraying?
defrauding vs defraying
Defray means to pay a cost, as in defraying expenses, and is unrelated to cheating.
Practice
The accountant was jailed for ___ his clients of more than two million dollars.
Choose one answer.
Defrauding means cheating by deception, and takes of before the amount lost. Defraying is a tempting look-alike but it means paying costs.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “defrauding”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.