Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The act of peculating; the crime of appropriating to one's own use money or goods intrusted to one's care; embezzlement; defalcation.
Wiktionary
- n. law The wrongful appropriation or embezzlement of shared or public property, usually by a person entrusted with the guardianship of that property.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The act or practice of peculating, or of defrauding the public by appropriating to one's own use the money or goods intrusted to one's care for management or disbursement; embezzlement.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the fraudulent appropriation of funds or property entrusted to your care but actually owned by someone else
Etymologies
- From Latin peculatus ("embezzlement"), from past participle stem of peculor ("to defraud the public"), related to peculium ("property in cattle", "private property"), from pecu ("cattle", "money"). (Wiktionary)
Examples
“S peculation is rampant that Bush is preparing to nominate Sam Alito of the U.S.”
“The nabobs, as they were called -- the company's servants and directors who survived the appalling climate and who returned to England after a few years with immense fortunes wrung by extortion and peculation from the Indian princes and the Indian trade.”
“A Persian who has spent his life in peculation, or in amassing wealth by interest at 100 per cent., or even 200 at times, when his days are closing, resolves to win heaven and a good reputation by relieving the thirst of his fellow-citizens in the above way.”
“Yesterday's term was peculation, which is defined as:”
“Hence according to the present judgment the pain of death is not inflicted for theft which does not inflict an irreparable harm, except when it is aggravated by some grave circumstance, as in the case of sacrilege which is the theft of a sacred thing, of peculation, which is theft of common property, as”
“He, however, transmitted to the government at Calcutta a partial representation of the state of the provinces, the substance of which was, that the natives were exposed to every kind of peculation, and that the country was in a horrible state of confusion and disorder.”
The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 11 (of 12)
“For the latter part of the power of the prerogative, or that whereby they are the supreme judicatory of this nation, and of the provinces of the same, the cognizances of crimes against the majesty of the people, such as high treason, as also of peculation, that is, robbery of the treasury, or defraudation of the commonwealth, appertains to this tribe.”
“That record is a perfect hole of peculation, insane risks, and the warped allocation of capital.”
Matthew Yglesias » The Worst Option, Except for All the Others
“Mr. McLynn is as unsparing of the senior commanders in Burma as they were of each other: The "mentally unstable" Wingate is posthumously diagnosed with bipolar disorder; Chennault suffered from "monomania," was "essentially false" and "joined in the Chinese elite's corruption and peculation with avidity"; Chiang is described as having given his second wife a nasty venereal disease on their wedding night.”
““And not only do they lie; they lie not for the everyday, ordinary purposes of men, to conceal peculation, addiction, or a stance overly wide; no!””
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘peculation’.
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-tion
vacation, suggestion, donation, condition, education, examination, federation, generation, imagination, invention, operation, pollution and 166 more...
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phrontistery - p
from phrontistery.info
pabouche, pabulous, pabulum, pacable, pace, pachydermia, pachyglossal, pachymeter, pachynsis, paciferous, pacificate, pactolian and 1766 more...
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Jesse's random
bathos, dragoman, tessellated, escutcheon, eikon, mondaine, basilisk, ciborium, rubric, machicolation, jet, defalcation and 198 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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On with their heads!
Words that make other words with the addition of one letter at the beginning. The resulting words are tagged "behead".
men, his, yes, any, iota, limb, aged, laid, land, lead, read, word and 327 more...
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Official Misconduct
Words describing types of misconduct by those in public office.
malversation, embezzlement, peculation, racketeering, jobbery, misappropriation, defalcation, venality, favouritism, favoritism, nepotism, gerrymandering and 44 more...
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G...R...E
gross.
sybarite, restiveness, churl, nepotism, jingoism, pusillanimous, gaffe, incisive, enervate, bucolic, concomitant, abeyance and 158 more...
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Personal Vocabulary List
All my favourite words that I come across!
veritable, incongruence, rigamorole, letcherous, revolting, repulsive, reputrid, rapatious, forays, guise, placate, paradigm and 1162 more...
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Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2538 more...
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School Words
hagiography, antediluvian, rakish, impeccable, hackneyed, irascible, nascent, teetotaller, suffragette, amiable, expiate, turbulent and 110 more...
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Panvocalics
Panvocalics are words that contain all the vowels. Listed here are "euvocalics": words that have each of the five vowels only once. (These are also a kind of supervocalic.) Words that also have a "...
subcontinental, unoriental, ultraviolet, tourmaline, sequoia, jacqueminot, milquetoast, xenosaurid, thunderation, adenovirus, accoutering, absolutive and 2777 more...
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Gil Blas
Interesting words and usages from Smollett's 1749 translation of Lesage's L'Histoire de Gil Blas de Santillane
reck, durance, rhodomontade, hangdog, trap, lustre, pin, boggle, dandle, birthday suit, colic, gripes and 238 more...
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the omnibus
preponderance, idioglossia, acumen, heteronym, flux, anacoluthon, metonymy, impetus, constellation, exegesis, revelatory, cloistered and 877 more...
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19 c.
some of the interesting words i've had to look up while reading 19th century lit
maugre, connate, alembic, azote, vaticination, valetudinarian, dight, scutcheon, lammergeyer, chamois, asseverate, prebendary and 199 more...
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5-0
Hecko, words! I’m so happy I’ve found you. I want to keep you all and never want to lose you again. I hope you like it here.
amscray, thistledown, tine, tinsel, pungent, snarl, wail, lanky, viscid, dawdle, luminous, stow and 2719 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, P
pellucid, pertain, pampas, prate, pinecone, philistine, pantocrator, papaverine, postmeridian, potlatch, pharology, pinniped and 622 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for peculation.

jaime_d from Thomas Carlyle's The French Revolution Mar 6, 2011
yarb ...I declared myself in serious terms a decided enemy to all peculation and underhand dealing.
- Lesage, The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane, tr. Smollett, bk 7 ch. 15 Oct 2, 2008
rolig A white-tie way to say "embezzlement". Aug 26, 2008