embezzlement
NounWordNet 3.0
Noun (1)
- the fraudulent appropriation of funds or property entrusted to your care but actually owned by someone elseSynonyms: peculationdefalcationmisapplicationmisappropriation
Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)
Embezzlement \Em*bez"zle*ment\, n. The fraudulent appropriation of property by a person to whom it has been intrusted; as, the embezzlement by a clerk of his employer's money; embezzlement of public funds by the public officer having them in charge. [1913 Webster]
Note: Larceny denotes a taking, by fraud or stealth, from another's possession; embezzlement denotes an appropriation, by fraud or stealth, of property already in the wrongdoer's possession. In England and in most of the United States embezzlement is made indictable by statute. [1913 Webster]