PECULATION

embezzlement, peculation, defalcation, misapplication, misappropriation

(noun) the fraudulent appropriation of funds or property entrusted to your care but actually owned by someone else

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

peculation (countable and uncountable, plural peculations)

(legal, chiefly, historical) The wrongful appropriation or embezzlement of shared or public property, usually by a person entrusted with the guardianship of that property.

Usage notes

• Embezzlement is the usual term used for this crime in modern laws.

Anagrams

• cupelation, unpoetical

Source: Wiktionary

Pec`u*la"tion, n.

Definition: The act or practice of peculating, or of defrauding the public by appropriating to one's own use the money or goods intrusted to one's care for management or disbursement; embezzlement. Every British subject . . . active in the discovery of peculations has been ruined. Burke.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition