Peculation

//pɛkjʊˈleɪʃən// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The wrongful appropriation or embezzlement of shared or public property, usually by a person entrusted with the guardianship of that property. countable, historical, uncountable

    "[The Chief Magistrate] might pervert his administration into a scheme of peculation or oppression."

  2. 2
    the fraudulent appropriation of funds or property entrusted to your care but actually owned by someone else wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
abuseconversiondefalcationdesecrationdiversionembezzlement

Example

More examples

"[The Chief Magistrate] might pervert his administration into a scheme of peculation or oppression."

Etymology

From Latin pecūlātiō (“embezzlement”) from pecūlor (“to defraud the public”), related to pecūlium (“property in cattle, private property”), from pecū (“cattle, money”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.