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
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
Court records can thus function as a kind of archive for those without any other paper trail, such as free people of color and the enslaved.
—Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 31 Mar. 2025
Daily coordination meetings about encampment actions aren't documented, leaving key decisions without a paper trail.
—Alayna Alvarez, Axios, 21 Mar. 2025
Unlike credit counseling and debt relief, bankruptcy is a legal process that takes place in a dedicated court with a public paper trail.
—Sacramento Bee, 26 Feb. 2025
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Emma Brockes, New York Times, 4 Apr. 2025
Court records can thus function as a kind of archive for those without any other paper trail, such as free people of color and the enslaved.
—Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 31 Mar. 2025
Daily coordination meetings about encampment actions aren't documented, leaving key decisions without a paper trail.
—Alayna Alvarez, Axios, 21 Mar. 2025
Unlike credit counseling and debt relief, bankruptcy is a legal process that takes place in a dedicated court with a public paper trail.
—Sacramento Bee, 26 Feb. 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 13 Apr. 2025.
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