embezzle
Americanverb (used with object)
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embezzles,
present (3rd person singular)
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embezzled,
past participle, past
-
embezzling
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
embezzlesimple
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embezzlessimple
-
have embezzledperfect
-
has embezzledperfect
-
am embezzlingprogressive
-
are embezzlingprogressive
-
is embezzlingprogressive
-
have been embezzlingperfect progressive
-
has been embezzlingperfect progressive
Past
-
embezzledsimple
-
had embezzledperfect
-
was embezzlingprogressive
-
were embezzlingprogressive
-
had been embezzlingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of embezzle
1375–1425; late Middle English embesilen < Anglo-French embeseiller to destroy, make away with, equivalent to em- em- 1 + beseiller, Old French beseiller to destroy < ?
Explanation
When a person embezzles, it usually means that he is stealing money from his employer. If he is caught embezzling, it probably also means that he will soon be unemployed. The word embezzle implies more than simply "to steal." When a person embezzles, he or she takes advantage of an employer's trust for personal gain. Embezzling is a so-called "white-collar crime" which often involves some sort of cover-up, like falsifying financial records or stealing small amounts of money over a long period of time. The word embezzle comes from an Old French word meaning "maltreat or ravage," besillier, and an embezzler can be said to ravage someone else's money.
Vocabulary lists containing embezzle
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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:
EDINBURGH—A political operative’s yearslong scheme to embezzle party funds has become a source of anger and embarrassment in Scotland, but not entirely for the reasons you might think.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
During the appeal trial, she denied that the RN had any system to embezzle European Parliament funds and has said her party acted in "complete good faith".
From Barron's ● Feb. 11, 2026
Some plots intended to embezzle funds and defraud unions and employee benefit plans, officials say.
From BBC ● Nov. 11, 2023
Navarro also formed a sham charity called the United Latino Foundation as another way to embezzle funds from his campaign for his personal use, according to the indictment.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2023
And how long have you been so thick with Dunsey that you must collogue with him to embezzle my money?
From Silas Marner by George Eliot
But if a mom and pop own a dry cleaner and someone embezzles or steals $175,000 from them and they don’t get their money back, they’re done.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2017
One of the objectors embezzles money and excitement surges to the rescue.
From Time Magazine Archive
You say the mouth embezzles all, The fruit of your exertion; But I on this assembly call To prove the base assertion.
From Aesop, in Rhyme Old Friends in a New Dress by Marmaduke Park
Men do not perpetrate crimes for the sake of light o' loves like Musette, unless, indeed, some wretched youth embezzles money to buy jewellery for his divinity.
From The Mystery of a Hansom Cab by Fergus Hume
Prosecutors have given more details about how Peter Murrell embezzled goods worth more than £400,000 using the SNP's money.
From BBC ● Jun. 2, 2026
Sturgeon also said she did not think it was fair that Murrell - who embezzled more than £400,000 from the SNP over a 12-year period - should lose his job when she was promoted.
From BBC ● May 29, 2026
Nicola Sturgeon has said she was "deceived, betrayed and lied to" by her estranged husband Peter Murrell as he embezzled hundreds of thousands of pounds from the SNP.
From BBC ● May 28, 2026
If that case is the benchmark - with around a month in jail for every £1,000 embezzled - then Murrell could be behind bars for a very long time.
From BBC ● May 26, 2026
But there was a man who’d embezzled money from Grandpa Vaughan’s estate after he died and whom Rosa then sued in civil court.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
It comes after former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell was jailed for more than five years after he admitted embezzling more than £400,000 from the party over five years.
From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2026
In a lawsuit of his own, the investor accused Ghaffar of embezzling assets to fund an extravagant lifestyle for himself and his family.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 17, 2026
Murrell, the ex-SNP chief executive and estranged husband of Nicola Sturgeon, pleaded guilty last week to embezzling more than £400,000 from the party over 12 years.
From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2026
John Swinney has rejected calls for a Holyrood inquiry into former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, who admitted this week to embezzling more than £400,000 from the party.
From BBC ● May 28, 2026
After Scott had set up his congregation, he found that Komo was embezzling money from people who were contributing to the fight against the removal.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
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.
