DEFALCATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does defalcate mean? 

• DEFALCATE (verb)
  The verb DEFALCATE has 1 sense:

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

  Familiarity information: DEFALCATE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DEFALCATE (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

defalcate; embezzle; malversate; misappropriate; peculate

Context example:

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

Hypernyms (to "defalcate" is one way to...):

rip; rip off; steal (take without the owner's consent)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "defalcate"):

fiddle (commit fraud and steal from one's employer)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something from somebody

Derivation:

defalcation (the fraudulent appropriation of funds or property entrusted to your care but actually owned by someone else)

defalcator (someone who violates a trust by taking (money) for his own use)