forgery

/ˈfɔrdʒəri/

/ˈfɔdʒəri/

Other forms: forgeries

If you painted a copy of the Mona Lisa and sold it to a museum, claiming it was the original, your painting could be called a forgery, and the crime you've committed is also forgery.

Forgery is a legal word describing a white-collar crime that could involve faking a famous painting, making a false passport that claims you're the King of Swaziland, or copying your boss's signature onto a document. Both the crime of forgery and the sense of forge that means "to make" or "to sculpt" come from the Latin root word fabricare, or "fabricate."

Definitions of forgery

1. noun

   criminal falsification by making or altering an instrument with intent to defraud
   type of:

   falsehood, falsification

   the act of rendering something false as by fraudulent changes (of documents or measures etc.) or counterfeiting

   crime, criminal offence, criminal offense, law-breaking, offence, offense

   (criminal law) an act punishable by law; usually considered an evil act
2. noun

   a copy that is represented as the original
   synonyms: counterfeit

   type of:

   imitation

   something copied or derived from an original