paper trail
noun
: documents (such as financial records) from which a person's actions may be traced or opinions learned
Examples of paper trail in a Sentence
They covered up the fraud and were careful not to leave a paper trail.
Recent Examples on the Web
But sending the email request to the EPA does create a paper trail that companies may want to consider.
—
Tracy J. Wholf, CBS News, 27 Mar. 2025
Faxes also provide evidence of document receipt, creating a traceable paper trail.
—Tamsin Gable, Forbes.com, 27 Mar. 2025
The author and journalist, who died at 87 in 2021, also kept those notes, and her datebooks, and more generally the paper trail of her literary legacy.
—Christopher Bonanos, Vulture, 26 Mar. 2025
The paper trail is secondary to what seems, at first, like Dunthorne’s eccentric decision to visit the various towns, factories and chemical dumps where the fruit of Siegfried’s research did the most damage.
—Emma Brockes, New York Times, 4 Apr. 2025
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Tracy J. Wholf, CBS News, 27 Mar. 2025
Faxes also provide evidence of document receipt, creating a traceable paper trail.
—Tamsin Gable, Forbes.com, 27 Mar. 2025
The author and journalist, who died at 87 in 2021, also kept those notes, and her datebooks, and more generally the paper trail of her literary legacy.
—Christopher Bonanos, Vulture, 26 Mar. 2025
The paper trail is secondary to what seems, at first, like Dunthorne’s eccentric decision to visit the various towns, factories and chemical dumps where the fruit of Siegfried’s research did the most damage.
—Emma Brockes, New York Times, 4 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for paper trail
Cite this Entry
“Paper trail.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/paper%20trail. Accessed 23 Apr. 2025.
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