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Fraud vs Deceit - What's the difference?

fraud | deceit | Synonyms |

Deceit is a synonym of fraud.



As nouns the difference between fraud and deceit

is that fraud is any act of deception carried out for the purpose of unfair, undeserved and/or unlawful gain while deceit is an act or practice intended to deceive; a trick.

As a verb fraud

is to defraud.

fraud

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • Any act of deception carried out for the purpose of unfair, undeserved and/or unlawful gain.
  • * Alexander Pope
    • If success a lover's toil attends, / Few ask, if fraud or force attained his ends.
  • * {{quote-book, year=2006, author=
    • , title=Internal Combustion , chapter=1 citation , passage=But electric vehicles and the batteries that made them run became ensnared in corporate scandals, fraud , and monopolistic corruption that shook the confidence of the nation and inspired automotive upstarts.}}
  • The assumption of a false identity to such deceptive end.
  • A person who performs any such trick.
  • (obsolete) A trap or snare.
  • * Milton
    • to draw the proud King Ahab into fraud

    Synonyms

    * (criminal) deceit * trickery * hoky-poky * imposture * (person ) faker, fraudster, impostor, cheat(er), trickster

    Related terms

    * defraud * fraudulence * fraudulent * fraudulently * fraudulentness * insurance fraud * mail fraud * pious fraud * wire fraud

    See also

    * embezzlement * false billing * false advertising * forgery * identity theft * predatory lending * quackery * usury * white-collar crime

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To defraud

    • deceit

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (obsolete)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An act or practice intended to deceive; a trick
    • The whole conversation was merely a deceit .
  • An act of deceiving someone
  • * {{quote-book, year=1998, author=Mike Dixon-Kennedy, title=Encyclopedia of Greco-Roman Mythology, page=125, pageurl=http://books.google.com/books?id=2U7okUE3PIcC&pg=PA125
    • , passage=Upon his return he killed Eriphyle for her vanity and deceit of him and his father. }}
  • (uncountable) The state of being deceitful or deceptive
  • * {{quote-book, year=1611, title=King James Bible, chapter=Psalms 10:7
    • , passage=His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity.}}
  • (legal) The tort or fraudulent representation of a material fact made with knowledge of its falsity, or recklessly, or without reasonable grounds for believing its truth and with intent to induce reliance on it; the plaintiff justifiably relies on the deception, to his injury.

    • Synonyms

    * (act or behavior intended to deceive) trick, fraud * (act of deceiving) deception, trickery * (state of being deceptive) underhandedness, deceptiveness, deceitfulness, dissimulation, fraudulence, trickery * See also

    Derived terms

    * deceitful