Meaning & use
document forgery
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountablelegal
The crime of making a false document or changing a real one so that it deceives people.
Grammar: No plural; it names the activity or crime, not a single item.
Patterns
- commit document forgery
- be charged with document forgery
- document forgery charges
He was arrested for document forgery after altering his passport.
The bank has strict checks to prevent document forgery.
She faced document forgery charges for creating fake diplomas.
nouncountablelegal
A particular act or instance of faking a document.
Grammar: Can be countable when talking about a specific case: a document forgery.
Patterns
- a document forgery
- investigate a document forgery
The police uncovered a document forgery in the land registry.
Each document forgery was traced back to the same printer.
Common combinations
- commit document forgery
- Anyone who commits document forgery can go to prison.
- be charged with document forgery
- The clerk was charged with document forgery last week.
- document forgery charges
- He denied the document forgery charges in court.
- prevent document forgery
- New holograms help prevent document forgery.
Synonyms and how they differ
- forgery
- Broader; it can mean faking any object, not just documents. Use 'document forgery' when you mean papers specifically.
- falsification
- More formal and general; it can include changing records or data, not only making fake documents.
Word family
Commonly confused: document forgery or forgery?
document forgery vs forgery
'Forgery' alone can mean faking money, art, or signatures. 'Document forgery' is limited to documents.
Practice
The employee was arrested for ______ after she changed the dates on several contracts.
Choose one answer.
'Document forgery' is the correct noun phrase for the crime. 'Document forge' is not a noun, and 'forgery document' reverses the usual order.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “document forgery”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.