fraudulently
Meaning
in a manner involving deceit or trickery intended to gain an unfair or dishonest advantage.
Structure
Usage
the company was accused of fraudulently manipulating its financial statements.
he obtained the funds fraudulently by using a forged signature.
the contract was declared void because it had been fraudulently induced.
Etymology
the word's journey begins with the latin noun fraus, meaning 'deceit, cheating, or injury', which itself may trace back to the proto-indo-european root dhreu- meaning 'to fall, mislead'. this root combined with the latin suffix -ulentus, denoting abundance, to form the latin adjective fraudulentus, meaning 'full of deceit'. english borrowed this adjective directly in the 14th century. the modern adverb 'fraudulently' was then formed by appending the native english adverbial suffix '-ly', a common grammatical process that transforms a descriptive adjective into a modifier describing the manner of an action, thus meaning 'in a deceitful manner'.
Analysis
- fraud: from latin fraus, fraud- meaning 'deceit, injury'. - ulent: a latin adjectival suffix (-ulentus) meaning 'full of, characterized by'. - ly: an old english adverbial suffix (-lice) used to form adverbs from adjectives.