Thesaurus results for PECULATE

peculate

verb

Definition of peculate

as in to usurp

Related Words

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for peculate

Verb

But by the end of the movie, Verity is dead and her publishing empire has been usurped by her ghostwriter.

— Bethy Squires, Vulture, 5 Oct. 2026
Murray said that in recent spending negotiations, Democrats fought to include language to prevent the administration from usurping Congress’ power on spending decisions, but Republicans have declined to go along.

— Kevin Freking, Los Angeles Times, 26 Sep. 2026

Definition of usurp

Verb

Her campaign has been relatively free of major bumps since an appeals court in July cleared her path for a fourth run at the presidency, with a ruling that shortened a ban on seeking public office handed down to Le Pen for embezzling public funds.

— ABC News, ABC News, 29 Sep. 2026
The government is attempting to improve shattered services and open up an economy closed by the corrupt Assad regime, which ran the economy with an iron fist and embezzled billions for the Assad clan and their allies.

— Taylor Luck, Christian Science Monitor, 28 Sep. 2026

Definition of embezzle

Verb

Oviedo also alleged that bundles of cash seized from an ambulance leaving Mariaca’s home in the city of Santa Cruz early Thursday were proceeds of extortion targeting people who sought help from prosecutors.

— Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 1 Oct. 2026
Azerbaijan has denied these allegations, but the country is a major oil supplier to Israel, which might be enough to push Tehran to try to seize Nakhichevan, an Azerbaijani exclave on the Iranian border.

— Mohammad Ayatollahi Tabaar, Foreign Affairs, 1 Oct. 2026

Definition of seize

Verb

The 6th Circuit also held that, even if sports event contracts count as swaps, the CEA does not preempt state gambling laws.

— Michael McCann, Sportico.com, 26 Sep. 2026
The Federal Communications Commission has been taking public comments on a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that proposes to preempt state and local permitting rules.

— Jon Brodkin, ArsTechnica, 22 Sep. 2026

Definition of preempt

Verb

Some Democrats in Congress are now calling for investigations into whether money appropriated for border protection is being used to promote the president’s political message.

— Luke Fountain, CNBC, 29 Sep. 2026
But Wolfson once more goes the less dangerous route, appropriating a 1984 photograph of two tulips in a black void instead of something more explicit.

— Alex Greenberger, ARTnews.com, 23 Sep. 2026

Definition of appropriate

Verb

States, or city and town councils, should mandate regular audits of database access and impose strict criminal penalties for cops who misuse the technology.

— Rafael A. Mangual, Washington Post, 2 Oct. 2026
In Florida, police have repeatedly been caught misusing Flock cameras, sometimes tracking single cars hundreds of times for personal reasons.

— Ashley Belanger, ArsTechnica, 1 Oct. 2026

Definition of misuse

Verb

What shouldn’t happen is for the federal government to arrogate to itself nationalization powers over what fans are so passionate about.

— John Tamny, Forbes.com, 22 May 2026
But all of those ideas for spending or tax rebates, again, all of those are congressional authority that the president is arrogating to himself—something else that would have startled the founders of the country all those 250 years ago.

— David Frum, The Atlantic, 31 Dec. 2025

Definition of arrogate

Verb

York had a cellphone returned to him, but the $160 that police confiscated from him was given to the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force as part of the plea agreement.

— Erick Mendoza, NBC news, 2 Oct. 2026
York was arrested after responding to an online prostitution by the Miami Valley Human Trafficking Task Force, which confiscated his cellphone and $160 in cash.

— Chris Biderman, Sacbee.com, 2 Oct. 2026

Definition of confiscate

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

Pecksniffian

peculate

peculated

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“Peculate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/peculate. Accessed 6 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of peculate

verb

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