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

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

Prosecutors allege Wallace embezzled about $390,000 from the church’s coffers between April 2019 and September 2025, spending some of the funds on rent and travel expenses.

— Iris Kwok, Los Angeles Times, 31 Oct. 2026
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

Definition of embezzle

Verb

However, such a tie-up would be the largest in history and would almost certainly raise antitrust concerns that Democrats would seize upon.

— Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 5 Nov. 2026
Washington seized control of Venezuela's oil exports in January after ousting former President Nicolás Maduro in a military raid.

— Spencer Kimball, CNBC, 5 Nov. 2026

Definition of seize

Verb

The forcefulness of their singing conveys desperation, but preempts so much of the nuance that enlivens their songs—the fundamental regret in their voice grinding against the fundamental determination.

— Stephen M. Deusner, Pitchfork, 3 Nov. 2026
There is currently a split among federal courts as to whether Kalshi, Polymarket and other companies can be regulated by states’ sports betting laws or whether federal law for commodities preempts states.

— Eben Novy-Williams, Sportico.com, 3 Nov. 2026

Definition of preempt

Verb

Congress appropriated $257 million for the renovation of the Kennedy Center.

— Gary Fields, Los Angeles Times, 6 Nov. 2026
The deposits would not count toward the Gann Limit, which was voter-approved in 1979 and limits the amount of tax revenue that politicians can spend and appropriate annually.

— Dean Fioresi, CBS News, 3 Nov. 2026

Definition of appropriate

Verb

Blanche also warned that authorities would pursue individuals who misuse SI against American taxpayers.

— Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 6 Nov. 2026
Prevent Providers From Using Your Data To Compete Security and assurance mean knowing a provider won’t misuse your data or intellectual property to build a competing product.

— Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 5 Nov. 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

But on the criminal side, prosecutors help petitioners pull together information about whether a defendant has guns that need to be confiscated, which then gets forwarded on to the relevant law enforcement agency.

— Caroline Kubzansky, Chicago Tribune, 8 Nov. 2026
The justice minister said police, soldiers, and mining officials confiscated more than 500 trucks and machinery at several sites in the country’s southeast.

— Ruben Nyanguila, semafor.com, 4 Nov. 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 10 Nov. 2026.

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Synonyms of peculate

verb

Example Sentences

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