misappropriate

play

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

Definition of misappropriate

transitive verb

:to appropriate wrongly (as by theft or embezzlement)

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misappropriation

play \-ˌprō-prē-ˈā-shən\ noun

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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 of misappropriate from the Web

A year earlier, he was accused of misappropriating over $92,000 during a real estate transaction he was retained to facilitate; that civil action remains active.

— chris harris, PEOPLE.com, "Father Who Killed Wife and Daughter in N.Y. Murder-Suicide Faced Several Lawsuits Saying He Swindled Money," 28 Aug. 2017
Former Poway Superintendent John Collins is facing felony charges for allegedly misappropriating public money and filing a false financial disclosure form.

— deborah sullivan brennan, Pomerado News, "Fired PUSD Supt. John Collins facing criminal charges," 8 Aug. 2017
A former University of Missouri employee accused of misappropriating funds is being investigated by university police.

— mará rose williams, kansascity, "Former MU employee accused of misappropriating funds is under investigation," 25 July 2017
At the time of his arrest, Francis was accused of misappropriating more than $300,000.

— edmund h. mahony, courant.com, "Judge Calls Fugitive Hartford Lawyer 'Mind-Boggling'," 25 July 2017
Neal Bergstrom was charged with others in 2006 with misappropriating more than $4 million from clients who'd hired them to handle their payroll.

— jeff manning, OregonLive.com, "Landlord of Oregon's Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum subject of SEC inquiry," 23 July 2017
He was also charged with fraudulently using thousands of dollars from his campaign fund for personal expenses, misusing city vehicles and misappropriating money intended to fund his mother's nursing home care.

— CBS News, "Philadelphia DA pleads guilty, quits and is sent immediately to jail," 29 June 2017
Through it all, investigators have explored whether public money was misused or misappropriated by developers tasked with creating affordable housing in South Florida, where the cost of housing remains among the highest in the nation.

— jay weaver, nicholas nehamas and david smiley, miamiherald, "Feds investigating Related Group project amid widening affordable housing probe," 15 June 2017
And in 2014, the state attorney general found that a marketing and fundraising firm working with the parade had misappropriated $1 million.

— colleen long, The Seattle Times, "Puerto Rican parade tries to move past storm over militant," 10 June 2017

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.