How to use defraud in a sentence

10 example sentences · verb

Defraud means to obtain money or property from (a person) by fraud; to swindle. Example: “To doctor the signature of an instrument with intent to defraud is an example of forgery.”

Examples of defraud by meaning

verbTo 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.1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter II, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC

verbTo deprive.

Both laughed as they shook hands but Miss Tilehurst felt that she had been defrauded of something that she had looked forward to by Nora's offhand manner, and she was glad that Mr.1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London

More sentences with defraud

To doctor the signature of an instrument with intent to defraud is an example of forgery.From the entry doctor
Mr. Martin was found guilty of defrauding the Commonwealth by making false welfare claims.From the entry commonwealth
Reeve Edgar le Sherman, honest and fair," he mocked, "defrauding his own fellows for gain.2020, Vesper Stamper, A Cloud of Outrageous Blue, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, →ISBN, page 49. From the entry wooler
Abuda said he was initially introduced to that aspect of sakawa where the Internet was used to defraud people.2015 May 4, Dominic Moses Awiah, “The confession of three Sakawa boys; We want to stop but ...”, in Graphic Online. From the entry sakawa
Senator KERRY: Lending and ponzying and scheming and defrauding and buying illegally and doing all these things, correct?1992, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Foreign Relations. Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics, and International Operations…. From the entry Ponzi
'We could have defrauded you,' Rachael said.1975, Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. From the entry mistest
Sam didn’t intend to defraud anyone.2023 October 5, Victoria Bekiempis, “FTX co-founder testifies he committed crimes with Sam Bankman-Fried”, in The Guardian, →ISSN. From the entry good faith
A woman from Kungliao Township (貢寮), Taipei County, has lost most of her life savings after being defrauded by a fake prosecutor.2008 May 6, Rich Chang, “Woman loses most of her life savings to scam team”, in Taipei Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on…. From the entry Kungliao

Meaning of defraud

verb To obtain money or property from (a person) by fraud; to swindle.
verb To deprive.

Full definition of defraud

Questions about defraud in a sentence

How do you use defraud in a sentence?: Defraud is used as a verb. For example: “To doctor the signature of an instrument with intent to defraud is an example of forgery.”
What is a short sentence with defraud?: “Sam didn’t intend to defraud anyone.”
What does defraud mean?: Defraud means to obtain money or property from (a person) by fraud; to swindle.

Adapted from Wiktionary: defraud (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use defraud in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/defraud. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.