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 having your name be usurped by a bag is a strangely dehumanizing experience.

— Marisa Meltzer, Vanity Fair, 19 Oct. 2026
By the time the coffee shop building was going up at the end of the route in 1959, Fresco said, interstate freeways were already beginning to usurp Route 66’s role and the Santa Monica route of Interstate 10 had been plotted.

— Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 13 Oct. 2026

Definition of usurp

Verb

Wilson also claimed funds were embezzled from the film’s budget and that Ghost was trying to bury her directorial debut.

— Nancy Dillon, Rolling Stone, 23 Oct. 2026
According to the Miami Herald, federal prosecutors identified Alvarado as an unindicted co-conspirator in a scheme to embezzle money from Venezuela’s national oil company.

— Cate Brown, ProPublica, 21 Oct. 2026

Definition of embezzle

Verb

Experts worry federal law enforcement could potentially use those false claims — or others generated this year — as pretext to try to seize ballots during the counting period, or interfere in the process in some other way.

— Miles Parks, NPR, 22 Oct. 2026
Those weaknesses could enable cybercriminals to seize control of unprotected website servers, install malware, pilfer customer data and even take sites down completely.

— Megan Cerullo, CBS News, 22 Oct. 2026

Definition of seize

Verb

However, the bill would also preempt certain state requirements covering public risk disclosures, independent evaluations, and critical incident reporting.

— Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 17 Oct. 2026
The legislation would also set a federal floor, rather than preempt state laws.

— Nicholas Wu, semafor.com, 7 Oct. 2026

Definition of preempt

Verb

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act even appropriated $40 million for the project.

— Jessica Gelt, Los Angeles Times, 23 Oct. 2026
And judging by the amount of controversy that’s already been stirred up, Sacha Baron Cohen’s iconic character of a middle-class white Brit appropriating hip-hop and Jamaican mannerisms still has the ability to rile people.

— Frank Scheck, HollywoodReporter, 22 Oct. 2026

Definition of appropriate

Verb

Someone could be accessing an existing financial account or misusing personal information without causing any immediate change to that score.

— Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 24 Oct. 2026
Slotkin has defended her comments as a call for accountability for people who misuse taxpayer money or break the law.

— Kaelan Deese, The Washington Examiner, 22 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

Italian authorities had bolstered security forces in Milan with hundreds of military troops who conducted searches and confiscated baseball bats, fireworks and face masks from scores of protesters.

— Jonny Hallam, CNN Money, 24 Oct. 2026
Arriving from Barcelona, the local landlord, however, confiscates Fagas’ America rifle, given to him by his father.

— John Hopewell, Variety, 23 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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Style

“Peculate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/peculate. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of peculate

verb

Example Sentences

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