embezzle

1. 1.

   appropriate (as property entrusted to one's care) fraudulently to one's own use

   “The accountant embezzled thousands of dollars while working for the wealthy family”

   Synonymsdefalcatepeculatemisappropriatemalversate

   Broadersteal

   Narrowerfiddle

Other forms of embezzle

past tense

embezzled·

present participle

embezzling·

third person

embezzles·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about embezzle

What does embezzle mean?

embezzle means "appropriate (as property entrusted to one's care) fraudulently to one's own use".

How many syllables are in embezzle?

embezzle has 3 syllables: em-bez-zle. The stress falls on "bez". In IPA it is /ɪmˈbɛzəl/.

What is another word for embezzle?

Close synonyms include defalcate, peculate, misappropriate, malversate. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is embezzle a common word?

embezzle is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.