pious fraud

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English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
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Etymology

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Calque of Latin pia fraus.

Noun

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pious fraud (countable and uncountable, plural pious frauds)

  1. An act of innocent deceit, technically using the methods of a fraudster but for an honest, honorable purpose.
    White lies are verbal cases of pious fraud.
  2. A person involved in such a fraud.