forgery
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
the illegal act of making a copy of a document, signature, or painting to deceive people.
the crime of falsely making or altering a writing, signature, or work of art with the intent to defraud.
Simple“He was arrested and charged with forgery after trying to use a fake passport.”
In context“The prosecution argued that the defendant had committed forgery by systematically altering the company's financial ledgers over several years.”
UsageUncountable when referring to the criminal activity in general.
Synonyms - 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
a document, painting, or piece of money that is not real but was made to look real.
a counterfeit or fraudulent imitation of a document, signature, or work of art.
Simple“The museum realized the famous painting was actually a clever forgery.”
In context“Expert analysis revealed that the signature on the contract was a forgery, executed with a precision that initially fooled the bank's security team.”
UsageCountable when referring to specific items.
Synonyms - 03 C2 Proficiency
the process of heating and shaping metal in a workshop.
the act or process of forging metal into a specific shape, typically using heat and a hammer.
Simple“The factory specializes in the forgery of heavy steel parts for ships.”
In context“Modern industrial forgery requires precise temperature control to ensure the structural integrity of the high-stress components being manufactured.”
UsageUsually uncountable in this industrial or craft sense.
Synonymssmithingmetalworking - 04 C2 Proficiency
something that is created or invented.
a creation or invention of the mind.
Simple“The strange story was merely a forgery of his overactive imagination.”
In context“The poet described the dream as a delicate forgery of the sleeping mind, vanishing at the first touch of dawn.”
Teacher's tipThis sense is rarely found in modern speech and is mostly encountered in older literature like Shakespeare.
Synonyms
Recorded since 1574; from forge + -ery, from Middle English forgen, via Anglo-Norman forger, from Old French forgier, from Latin fabricārī (“to frame, construct, fabricate”), itself from fabrica (“workshop; construction”), from faber (“workman, smith”). (fake): Compare typologically Russian кова́рный (kovárnyj), кова́рство (kovárstvo), ко́зни (kózni) (akin to кова́ть (kovátʹ), ку́зница (kúznica)).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.