"paper trail" meaning in All languages combined

See paper trail on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

Audio: En-au-paper trail.ogg [Australia] Forms: paper trails [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun}} paper trail (plural paper trails)
  1. (idiomatic) A written record, history, or collection of evidence. Tags: idiomatic Translations (collection of documentary evidence): trace écrite (French)
    Sense id: en-paper_trail-en-noun-uJ0vq-RY Disambiguation of 'collection of documentary evidence': 58 8 33
  2. (idiomatic) Records left by a person or organization in the course of activities. Tags: idiomatic Translations (records maintained in the course of activities): trace écrite (French)
    Sense id: en-paper_trail-en-noun-0XpsoD-W Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 18 72 10 Disambiguation of 'records maintained in the course of activities': 11 76 13
  3. (by extension) Physical evidence of something that occurred in the past. Tags: broadly
    Sense id: en-paper_trail-en-noun-q68odPv2
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: paper-trail, papertrail Related terms: audit trail, data trail, follow the money

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for paper trail meaning in All languages combined (3.6kB)

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "paper trails",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "paper trail (plural paper trails)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "audit trail"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "data trail"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "follow the money"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Keep a good paper trail in case anyone asks you why you arrived at that conclusion.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2003, Marsha Collier, eBay Bargain Shopping For Dummies, page 109",
          "text": "The only paper trail is the cashed money order, and unless it was cashed at a place where they actually know the payee (like the bank), the money order could have been stolen and cashed by someone else.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A written record, history, or collection of evidence."
      ],
      "id": "en-paper_trail-en-noun-uJ0vq-RY",
      "links": [
        [
          "record",
          "record"
        ],
        [
          "history",
          "history"
        ],
        [
          "evidence",
          "evidence"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) A written record, history, or collection of evidence."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "58 8 33",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "collection of documentary evidence",
          "word": "trace écrite"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "18 72 10",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2003, Tony Avent, So You Want to Start a Nursery, page 265",
          "text": "With a good paperwork system in place, including a working paper trail, it becomes much easier to manage the flow of relevant information regarding your plants and orders.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010, Jordan Belfort, The Wolf of Wall Street",
          "text": "And unless that paper trail exonerated you from guilt—or,if not that, supported some alternative explanation that granted you plausible deniability—then sooner or later you'd find yourself on the ass end of a federal indictment.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Records left by a person or organization in the course of activities."
      ],
      "id": "en-paper_trail-en-noun-0XpsoD-W",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) Records left by a person or organization in the course of activities."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "11 76 13",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "records maintained in the course of activities",
          "word": "trace écrite"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2012, Paul Parsons, Science in 100 Key Breakthroughs",
          "text": "Beginning in the late 20th century, researchers were able to analyze the mtDNA and Y chromosomes of multiple races around the world, revealing a DNA paper trail that led back to eastern Africa around 200,000 years ago.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2016, Katherine Yaun, Etiquette at School, page 37",
          "text": "Even if you delete posts or your digital paper trail, the data stills exists and can be retrieved later in life.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Physical evidence of something that occurred in the past."
      ],
      "id": "en-paper_trail-en-noun-q68odPv2",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(by extension) Physical evidence of something that occurred in the past."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "broadly"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-paper trail.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/c1/En-au-paper_trail.ogg/En-au-paper_trail.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/En-au-paper_trail.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "paper-trail"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "papertrail"
    }
  ],
  "word": "paper trail"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms with audio links"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "paper trails",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "paper trail (plural paper trails)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "audit trail"
    },
    {
      "word": "data trail"
    },
    {
      "word": "follow the money"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Keep a good paper trail in case anyone asks you why you arrived at that conclusion.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2003, Marsha Collier, eBay Bargain Shopping For Dummies, page 109",
          "text": "The only paper trail is the cashed money order, and unless it was cashed at a place where they actually know the payee (like the bank), the money order could have been stolen and cashed by someone else.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A written record, history, or collection of evidence."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "record",
          "record"
        ],
        [
          "history",
          "history"
        ],
        [
          "evidence",
          "evidence"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) A written record, history, or collection of evidence."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2003, Tony Avent, So You Want to Start a Nursery, page 265",
          "text": "With a good paperwork system in place, including a working paper trail, it becomes much easier to manage the flow of relevant information regarding your plants and orders.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010, Jordan Belfort, The Wolf of Wall Street",
          "text": "And unless that paper trail exonerated you from guilt—or,if not that, supported some alternative explanation that granted you plausible deniability—then sooner or later you'd find yourself on the ass end of a federal indictment.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Records left by a person or organization in the course of activities."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) Records left by a person or organization in the course of activities."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2012, Paul Parsons, Science in 100 Key Breakthroughs",
          "text": "Beginning in the late 20th century, researchers were able to analyze the mtDNA and Y chromosomes of multiple races around the world, revealing a DNA paper trail that led back to eastern Africa around 200,000 years ago.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2016, Katherine Yaun, Etiquette at School, page 37",
          "text": "Even if you delete posts or your digital paper trail, the data stills exists and can be retrieved later in life.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Physical evidence of something that occurred in the past."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(by extension) Physical evidence of something that occurred in the past."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "broadly"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
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      "audio": "En-au-paper trail.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/c1/En-au-paper_trail.ogg/En-au-paper_trail.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/En-au-paper_trail.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
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      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "paper-trail"
    },
    {
      "word": "papertrail"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "collection of documentary evidence",
      "word": "trace écrite"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "records maintained in the course of activities",
      "word": "trace écrite"
    }
  ],
  "word": "paper trail"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.