embezzle means to steal or misappropriate money that one has been trusted with, especially to steal money from the organisation for which one works. It carries an Arena rating of 1731, earned across 36 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, embezzle ranks #833 of 17,126 for Most Satisfying to Say, #1,304 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #1,515 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #2,535 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words.
embezzle is pronounced /ɪmˈbɛz.əl/.
Why “embezzle” is a great word
EMBEZZLE — [Verb] To steal or misappropriate money or property that one has been entrusted with, especially by an employer or organization. From Middle English embesilen, from Anglo-Norman embesiler, embesillier, from em- (an intensive prefix) + Old French besillier ("to torment, destroy, gouge"), of unknown origin. Unlike "peculate," which specifically denotes a public official stealing public funds, or "rob," which implies confrontation, embezzlement is a crime of stealth conducted from within the fortress of trust. It is the ghost employee on the payroll, the falsified ledger entry, the fractional cent shaved from ten thousand transactions—a corrosion so gradual it is felt only in the final, structural collapse, proving the most damaging thefts leave the safe door closed.
Etymology
From Middle English embesilen, from Anglo-Norman embesiler, embesillier, embeseillier (“to steal, cause to disappear”), from em- + Old French besillier (“to torment, destroy, gouge”), of unknown origin.
verb
- To steal or misappropriate money that one has been trusted with, especially to steal money from the organisation for which one works.e.g.“You waste your education in burglary. You should do one of two things. Either you should forge or you should embezzle. For my own part, I embezzle.” — 1903, H. G. Wells, “Mr. Ledbetter's Vacation”, in Twelve Stories and a Dream:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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