Home › Law › Corruption & Bribery › embezzlement

embezzlement

im-BEZ-uhl-muhnt /ɪmˈbez.əl.mənt/

nounC1GRETOEFLIELTS

LegalFormalBusiness

The theft or misappropriation of funds placed in one's trust or belonging to one's employer.

Requires lawful custody of the funds beforehand; theft of money you were entrusted to manage.

The story behind the word. From Anglo-French 'embesiler', meaning 'to steal' or 'waste away'. It combined 'en-' (in) and 'becil' (a small piece), representing secretly whittling away at assets under your care.

Word relationships

misappropriation: Misappropriation is the broader legal term for using funds improperly, whereas embezzlement is specific theft by a trusted custodian.
peculation: An older, formal synonym specifically for theft of public money.

stewardship: Responsible and ethical management of entrusted money.

Commonly confused with

laundering: Embezzlement is stealing money you manage; laundering is disguising the illegal origin of stolen or dirty money.

Word family

embezzle (verb): To steal money entrusted to one's care.
embezzler (noun): A person who commits embezzlement.

Collocations

charge with embezzlement
embezzlement scheme
prevent embezzlement
audit revealed embezzlement

Idioms & expressions

cooking the books
siphoning funds

Example sentences

"The chief accountant was sentenced to six years in prison for the embezzlement of over two million dollars." Financial Crimes
"Internal controls were revamped after an audit exposed widespread embezzlement in the regional offices." Corporate Law

Memory hook

EMBEZZLE: EM-ployees BEZZLE (nibble) money away from the safe. Stealing money entrusted to you.

When not to use

Do not use if the thief never had legal access or authority over the funds (that is simple theft/burglary).

Fun facts

In legal history, embezzlement was created as a specific statutory crime because traditional larceny laws required taking property from another's possession, which didn't apply to employees who already held the cash.