embezzle

Imagine a trusted accountant who manages a company's money. If that person quietly moves some of it into their own bank account and changes the records to hide it, that is embezzlement. It is not just ordinary stealing. It happens when someone is given control of money or property and then uses it for themselves. You would not use this word for taking money from your own piggy bank, because that money is already yours. But you might use it for a charity treasurer who spends donated money on personal things. The setting is usually work, business, government, or any role that involves trust and responsibility.

To embezzle means to steal money or property that was placed in your care, usually as part of a job or official role. The idea is not simply that something was stolen. The important detail is that the person already had legal access to it because they were trusted to manage it. Then they broke that trust and used it for personal gain.

This word often appears in stories about accountants, cashiers, company officers, public officials, or charity workers. A person might slowly move small amounts of money into a private account, write false reports, create fake expenses, or change records so the loss is harder to notice. That hidden, dishonest misuse of entrusted money is the heart of the meaning.

You would usually not use this word for a random street theft or a bank robbery. Those are different kinds of crimes. This word belongs in situations where trust, access, and responsibility come first. For example: "The manager was accused of embezzling money from the business," or "The town clerk admitted that she had embezzled public funds."

So when you hear this word, think of someone on the inside: a person who was supposed to protect the money, not take it. That sense of betrayal is what gives the word its full force.