defalcate
Americanverb (used without object)
verb
Other Word Forms
- defalcation noun
- defalcator noun
- undefalcated adjective
Etymology
Origin of defalcate
1530–40; < Medieval Latin dēfalcātus (past participle of dēfalcāre to cut off), equivalent to dē- de- + falcātus; falcate
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.
No one can defalcate in this particular; no one can Texas-ize and be quit of his transgressions and his onward travel.
From Project Gutenberg
An embezzler can not defalcate in Nova Scotia, lightly skip into Manitoba and put both provinces to expense and technical trouble apprehending him.
From Project Gutenberg
Carlyle to Emerson Chelsea, London, 8 December, 1839 My Dear Emerson,—What a time since we have written to one another! was it you that defalcated?
From Project Gutenberg
The plasterers were hindered; the painters misunderstood orders; the paperers have defalcated, and the universe generally comes to a pause.
From Project Gutenberg
Robespierre, on the extreme Left, with perhaps Petion and lean old Goupil, for the very Triumvirate has defalcated, are shrieking hoarse; drowned in Constitutional clamour.
From Project Gutenberg
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.
