Thesaurus results for PECULATE

peculate

verb

Definition of peculate

as in to usurp

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for peculate

Verb

When Shuja was usurped in Afghanistan by a rival brother, Shuja’s wife, Wa’fa Begum, fled to Lahore for safety.

— Hadley Hall Meares, Vanity Fair, 17 Aug. 2026
Her centuries old father Doro (who also appears in Wild Seed), is an ever present threat, concerned that his ambitious daughter will usurp his power.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 14 Aug. 2026

Definition of usurp

Verb

Before the jazz debacle, Ludlow was best known as a former City Council member who pleaded guilty in 2006 to federal charges of conspiring to embezzle union funds for campaign costs.

— David K. Li, NBC news, 10 Aug. 2026
Matthew Robinson was sued by his brother and a co-founder of the company, claiming $100,000 was embezzled over two years, according to a 2014 lawsuit.

— Adam Sabes, FOXNews.com, 17 July 2026

Definition of embezzle

Verb

The next season Keegan was joint top scorer as Liverpool were champions of England for the first time in seven years and also seized the club’s historic first European trophy.

— Michael Walker, New York Times, 22 Aug. 2026
Internet sleuths, predictably, have seized on this ambiguity as proof of malfeasance.

— Jessica Winter, New Yorker, 22 Aug. 2026

Definition of seize

Verb

Updates in the court battle offered some behind-the-scenes details about the renovation project, for which Congress appropriated $257 million.

— Bart Jansen, USA Today, 21 Aug. 2026
Summary The Caribbean is increasingly a global wellness hub, though Western influence often appropriates Afro-Indigenous practices.

— Tiana Randall, Forbes.com, 20 Aug. 2026

Definition of appropriate

Verb

Recent reports of law enforcement officers misusing license plate reader systems have added another layer to the growing debate.

— Zachary Bynum, CBS News, 20 Aug. 2026
Once again, the United States is in conflict with a Middle Eastern country under an administration that is misusing its power.

— David Harris, SPIN, 19 Aug. 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

After Germany declared war on Russia, Freundlich and his colleagues were captured by the Russian army and their equipment was confiscated.

— Chelsea Gohd, Space.com, 21 Aug. 2026
Hana reported that plainclothes agents confiscated phones and electronic equipment and that Seyedabdollahi was subsequently held in solitary confinement and at an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps intelligence detention facility in Isfahan.

— Efrat Lachter, FOXNews.com, 15 Aug. 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.

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Pecksniffian

peculate

peculated

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“Peculate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/peculate. Accessed 25 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of peculate

verb

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