embezzle

[em-bez-uhl]

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verb (used with object), em·bez·zled, em·bez·zling.

to appropriate fraudulently to one's own use, as money or property entrusted to one's care.

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 < ?

Related formsem·bez·zle·ment, nounem·bez·zler, nounnon·em·bez·zle·ment, nounun·em·bez·zled, adjective

Synonyms for embezzle

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misappropriate.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for embezzler

burglar, sniper, pickpocket, bandit, crook, swindler, criminal, pirate, robber, mugger, prowler, clip, cheat, hijacker, punk, plunderer, kleptomaniac, pilferer, larcenist, stealer

Examples from the Web for embezzler

Contemporary Examples of embezzler

She plays the kidnapped wife of an embezzler opposite Tim Robbins, John Hawkes, and Isla Fisher.
Jennifer Aniston’s New Movie Sucks. What’s She Doing Wrong?
Kevin Fallon
August 7, 2013

Historical Examples of embezzler

The rumors, always contradicted, that the embezzler had been caught!
The Rise of Roscoe Paine
Joseph C. Lincoln
It becomes you well—you, the cheat, the embezzler, the swindler.
The Mystery of Lincoln's Inn
Robert Machray
Surely, he had not been the embezzler, the libertine, the assassin!
The Key to Yesterday
Charles Neville Buck
Those are the only two places where an embezzler is comparatively safe these days.
On Secret Service
William Nelson Taft
These men who were robbed say that you are an embezzler, a thief.
The Taming of Red Butte Western
Francis Lynde

British Dictionary definitions for embezzler

embezzle

verb

to convert (money or property entrusted to one) fraudulently to one's own use

Derived Formsembezzlement, nounembezzler, noun

Word Origin for embezzle

C15: from Anglo-French embeseiller to destroy, from Old French beseiller to make away with, of uncertain origin

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for embezzler

1660s, agent noun from embezzle.

embezzle

early 15c., from Anglo-French embesiler "to steal, cause to disappear" (c.1300), from Old French em- (see en- (1)) + besillier "torment, destroy, gouge," of unknown origin. Sense of "to dispose of fraudulently" is first recorded 1580s. Related: Embezzled; embezzling.