paper trail
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In other words, there should be a paper trail if/when you are audited.
From MarketWatch • Feb. 26, 2026
Christie’s specialist Giada Damen, who spent months retracing its paper trail and showing it to Michelangelo experts, said this foot wound up with a Swiss diplomat whose family held onto it for generations.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 5, 2026
With no paper trail from a hospital birth, none of the trio will ever be able to trace their mother.
From Barron's • Jan. 14, 2026
He will seek and then pour over the paper trail, talk to Angela Rayner and attempt to establish a definitive timeline of what she did and when and who she spoke to and why.
From BBC • Sep. 4, 2025
A paper trail to a Chickasaw great-grandfather none of them had ever known was a path into a past she’d spent her whole life escaping.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
From Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.
