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

Your detailed paper trail, photos and polite escalation to a company executive should all work in your favor. —Christopher Elliott, Mercury News, 13 Apr. 2026

Carreyrou acknowledged an obvious objection to this thesis—that there is a lengthy paper trail of Back corresponding with Satoshi—but explains it away by saying that Back was actually writing to himself as part of an elaborate ruse to throw would-be unmaskers off the trail. —Jeff John Roberts, Fortune, 8 Apr. 2026

There’s no apparent paper trail documenting any alleged domestic violence at this time. —Amanda Rosa, Miami Herald, 4 Apr. 2026

And so there’s paper trails that can be cobbled together to make that case, but there are lots of people also doing that and taking advantage of that. —Joel Feder, The Drive, 19 Mar. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1935, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for paper trail

• abigail
• cottontail
• countervail
• fingernail
• martingale
• mesoscale
• microscale
• monorail
• nanoscale
• ponytail
• swallowtail
• wensleydale

Kids Definition

paper trail

noun

: documents (as financial records or published materials) from which a person's actions may be traced or opinions learned