misappropriate
Americanverb (used with object)
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misappropriates,
present (3rd person singular)
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misappropriated,
past participle, past
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misappropriating
present participle
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to put to a wrong use.
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to apply wrongfully or dishonestly, as funds entrusted to one's care.
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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misappropriatesimple
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misappropriatessimple
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have misappropriatedperfect
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has misappropriatedperfect
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am misappropriatingprogressive
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are misappropriatingprogressive
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is misappropriatingprogressive
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have been misappropriatingperfect progressive
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has been misappropriatingperfect progressive
Past
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misappropriatedsimple
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had misappropriatedperfect
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was misappropriatingprogressive
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were misappropriatingprogressive
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had been misappropriatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of misappropriate
First recorded in 1855–60; mis- 1 + appropriate
Explanation
When you misappropriate something, you steal it, or otherwise use it in a way its owner didn't intend. You might hear the phrase "to misappropriate funds" on the news — usually what this means is that someone who has access to money at work has stolen some of it. A banker might misappropriate money, for example, paying himself a bonus, or the manager of a charity might misappropriate donations, using them to buy herself a new car. Misappropriate combines the prefix mis, "bad or wrong," and appropriate, "take possession of."
Vocabulary lists containing misappropriate
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.
See Examples For:
The most famous case involved the Gupta brothers—Ajay, Atul and Rajesh—who were accused of using ties to the ANC to engage in corruption and bribery to misappropriate state assets, according to the U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2025
Earlier this week, a Singapore court handed out prison sentences to two former Wirecard Asia Holdings employees for conspiring to misappropriate money.
From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2023
Federal prosecutors in New York have charged Mr. Bankman-Fried with overseeing a scheme to misappropriate billions of dollars in customer deposits at FTX.
From New York Times ● Jan. 4, 2023
In February, Schrock and McManus pleaded guilty to conspiracy to misappropriate public funds.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 10, 2021
“To suggest that anybody in this class—the Junior class of Central High—would deliberately misappropriate these questions is beyond imagination,” declared Mr. Sharp, with sudden gravity.
From The Girls of Central High on the Stage The Play That Took The Prize by Gertrude W. Morrison
But beneath the pamphlets of patients living out their days in comfort lies an uglier reality: a cottage industry that frequently misappropriates taxpayer dollars in the name of profit.
From Slate ● Jan. 17, 2023
The privacy policy of a website outlines the details of what kind of data that website collects, but it does not offer any real recourse if the website misappropriates the data.
From Encyclopedia.com ● Jun. 26, 2018
The government is not in charge of the church, and the church is not in charge of the government - no matter how badly either misappropriates law or Scripture.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 20, 2018
Conflating diversity with a box-ticking or virtue-signalling exercise misappropriates its true meaning, which, if done properly by genuinely diverse decision-makers, is always about excellence.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 11, 2018
Is the girl who carries away sugar from the table any better than the government employee who misappropriates funds or supplies in his charge?
From Beatrice Leigh at College A Story for Girls by Julia Augusta Schwartz
“Despite our finding that the money was misappropriated, we find insufficient evidence to charge anyone criminally,” the grand jury wrote.
From Salon ● Aug. 30, 2026
“I would have to say our investment in FTX,” Loeb replied, referring to the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency brokerage, which collapsed in 2022 after customer funds were found to be misappropriated.
From MarketWatch ● May 28, 2026
Granted, Becerra has had a hard week, with a gaffe with a reporter that went viral and a plea deal by a former aide in that case of money misappropriated from his dormant campaign account.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2026
They allege the remaining $1.7 billion was misappropriated by Raja.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 12, 2026
“If you think you have any right to pry into her private affairs I’ll tell her you believe those checks are being misappropriated and you want an audit because you dont trust her.”
From "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner
In his lawsuit, Musk accuses OpenAI of betraying its original nonprofit mission and misappropriating his founding donations totalling $38 million to build an empire valued at over $850 billion.
From Barron's ● May 11, 2026
Last September, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil lawsuit against Lopez and his partners, accusing them of running a Ponzi scheme, misleading investors and misappropriating $16.1 million.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 10, 2026
The same day Alex released his statement, his former law firm said he resigned after they discovered he had been misappropriating money.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2025
On Friday, Curtis Frank Lemons, 68, was sentenced to two years in state prison for misappropriating funds from New Progressive Christian Baptist Church in Oxnard, according to the Ventura County district attorney’s office.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 27, 2025
Camillus banished from Rome, charged with misappropriating the booty secured at Veii, but really on account of his patrician haughtiness; he dies at Ardea, whither he had withdrawn.
From The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 02 (From the Rise of Greece to the Christian Era) by Charles F. (Charles Francis) Horne
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
