Meaning & use
perpetrating
Last updated
“perpetrating” is a form of “perpetrate”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meaning
verbtransitive
Doing something wrong, such as a crime, fraud, or cruel act.
Grammar: Always takes an object that is a wrongdoing: perpetrating a fraud, not a kindness.
Patterns
- perpetrate a crime
- perpetrate a fraud on someone
Police suspect two men of perpetrating the robbery.
Anyone perpetrating a hoax like this could face charges.
He spent years perpetrating a fraud on his investors.
Word forms
| base form | perpetrate |
|---|---|
| third person singular | perpetrates |
| past tense | perpetrated |
| past participle | perpetrated |
Common combinations
- perpetrate a crime
- No one saw who perpetrated the crime.
- perpetrate a fraud
- They were accused of perpetrating a fraud.
- perpetrate a hoax
- Students perpetrated a hoax by announcing a fake festival.
- perpetrate violence
- Groups perpetrating violence were condemned.
- perpetrate an act
- It was a cruel act to perpetrate against a child.
Synonyms and how they differ
- commit
- Commit is the everyday verb for crimes, while perpetrate sounds more formal and stresses the wrongdoer's responsibility.
- carry out
- Carry out is neutral and can describe good or bad plans, whereas perpetrating is always negative.
- inflict
- Inflict focuses on harm done to a victim, not on the act of committing a crime.
Opposites
Word family
- perpetrator noun
- the person who commits a crime
- perpetration noun
- the act of committing a crime
- perpetrated verb
- past form of perpetrate
Commonly confused: perpetrating or perpetuate?
perpetrating vs perpetuate
Perpetuate means to keep something going; perpetrate means to commit a wrong. Perpetuating a myth is not the same as perpetrating a crime.
Practice
The detective is certain the man was ___ a fraud against elderly customers.
Choose one answer.
Perpetrating means committing a wrongdoing. Perpetuating means continuing something, which is a tempting but different word.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “perpetrating”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.