embezzle

/im'bezl/

Thân thiện

The accountant embezzled money from the company's accounts.

Definition

1. Verb:
   • To steal or misappropriate money or property that has been entrusted to one's care, typically in a professional or official capacity. This act involves a violation of trust and is done in a secretive or fraudulent manner.

Examples of Usage

• Verb:
  • The bank manager was caught trying to embezzle funds from customer accounts.
  • She was convicted for embezzling over a million dollars from the charity over five years.

Advanced Usage

• "to embezzle from": This construction specifies the source from which money or property is stolen.
  • The treasurer was accused of embezzling from the company pension fund.

Variants and Related Words

• Embezzlement (n): The crime or act of embezzling.
  • He was charged with embezzlement and fraud.
• Embezzler (n): A person who embezzles.
  • The embezzler used sophisticated methods to hide the theft.

Synonyms

• Misappropriate: To take something, especially money, dishonestly for one's own use.
• Defalcate: (Formal) To misuse funds; to embezzle.
• Peculate: (Formal) To embezzle, especially public money.

Related Phrases

• To siphon off funds: To gradually steal money, often over time and in a way that is not immediately obvious.
  • The corrupt official siphoned off funds meant for public infrastructure.
• To cook the books: To falsify financial records, often to conceal embezzlement or other fraud.
  • In order to hide the embezzlement, the accountant had been cooking the books for years.

Học thuật

Verb

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

Từ đồng nghĩa

• defalcate
• peculate
• misappropriate
• malversate