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弄虚作假

nòng xū zuò jiǎ

to practise fraud

Character by character

弄nòng
play with
虚xū
the empty
作zuò
make
假jiǎ
the false

Example

考试不能弄虚作假。
You mustn't cheat in exams.

Tone: negative (criticism).

Usage and origin

Formal word for fraud: falsified data, accounts or results.

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