PECULATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does peculate mean? 

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

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

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

 Dictionary entry details 

• PECULATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they peculate    ... he / she / it peculates   
Past simple: peculated   
Past participle: peculated   
-ing form: peculating   

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 "peculate" is one way to...):

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

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

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

Sentence frames:

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

Derivation:

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

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