misappropriate

verb

mis·ap·pro·pri·ate | \ˌmi-sə-ˈprō-prē-ˌāt

misappropriated; misappropriating; misappropriates

Definition of misappropriate

transitive verb

: to appropriate wrongly (as by theft or embezzlement)

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Examples of misappropriate in a Sentence

They accused him of misappropriating town funds. a financial manager misappropriating funds from her clients' accounts

Recent Examples on the Web

Swiss authorities are investigating how much of the money that flowed through the Swiss financial system may have been misappropriated, Michael Lauber said Tuesday. — Yantoultra Ngui, WSJ, "About $7 Billion Linked to 1MDB Flowed Through Global Financial System, Switzerland Says," 10 July 2018 Then news came that hundreds of thousands of dollars in financial aid had been misappropriated. — Noah Weiland, New York Times, "Howard University Stares Down Challenges, and Hard Questions on Black Colleges," 26 Apr. 2018 Cantwell was making a sideways reference to Cambridge Analytica, the firm that misappropriated user data from Facebook through a personality quiz. — Shannon Liao, The Verge, "All the times lawmakers fumbled through Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook testimony," 11 Apr. 2018 Authorities have claimed Eisemann misappropriated $979,000 in public tuition funds the school received. — Fox News, "Rabbi accused of stealing school money pleads not guilty," 25 May 2018 He was booked at 6:34 p.m. Farmer, 48, pleaded guilty in 2013 to charges of government corruption and served a 27-month sentence for misappropriating governments resources for spending on himself, his family and his friends. — Fletcher Page, The Courier-Journal, "Former Kentucky basketball player Richie Farmer arrested on DUI charges," 22 Mar. 2018 Denise Ezekiel, the director of payroll, has been charged with larceny for allegedly misappropriating more than $23,000 relating to travel and reimbursement funds, said Meghan Kelly, spokeswoman for Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan. — Matt Rocheleau, BostonGlobe.com, "State Police payroll head charged with allegedly stealing from the agency," 18 Apr. 2018 Last April, Bagby filed a civil lawsuit against Becker, alleging Becker stole from the company, committed fraud and misappropriated company trade secrets. — Christina Tkacik, baltimoresun.com, "Chris Becker, Baltimore chef and former Bagby Restaurant Group CEO, dies," 27 June 2018 This is true; less than two years ago, the ITC determined that Fitbit did not misappropriate Jawbone trade secrets. — Lauren Goode, WIRED, "Indictment of Ex-Fitbit Employees Marks a Bigger Legal Shift," 23 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'misappropriate.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.