Word.ws English Dictionary

defraude

defraude is the obsolete spelling of defraud.

Meaning of defraud

Verb

defraud (third-person singular simple present defrauds, present participle defrauding, simple past and past participle defrauded)

  1. (transitive) To obtain money or property from (a person) by fraud; to swindle.
    • I had never defrauded a man of a farthing, nor called him knave behind his back. But now the last rag that covered my nakedness had been torn from me. I was branded a blackleg, card-sharper, and murderer.1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter II, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC
  2. (archaic) To deprive.
    • Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Corinthians 7:5

Forms of defraude

third-person singular presentdefraudes
present participledefrauding
past participledefrauded
pastdefrauded

Questions about defraude

What is defraude the obsolete spelling of?
Defraude is the obsolete spelling of defraud.

Words near defraude in the dictionary

  1. DeFrank
  2. defraud
  3. defraudable
  4. defraudation
  5. defraudations
  6. defraude
  7. defrauded
  8. defraudee
  9. defrauder
  10. defrauders
  11. defraudest

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: defraude (page history and authors); defraud (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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