misappropriation

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

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

From mis- + appropriation.

It amounted to misappropriation of the public funds.” “But it is impossible, I assure you, to expect the daughter of the Droitwiches—” began Mr. Wilkins earnestly. — The Enchanted April, Elizabeth Von Arnim
It appeared from the conversation that my father was unable immediately to produce the money, and Mr. Otway threatened to take criminal proceedings for misappropriation of trust funds. — Helen Vardon's confession, R. Austin (Richard Austin) Freeman
In poetry it is practicable to preserve the diction uncorrupted by the affectations and misappropriations, which promiscuous authorship, and reading not promiscuous only because it is disproportionally most conversant with the compositions of the day, have rendered general. — Biographia Literaria, Samuel Taylor Coleridge

embezzlement, peculation, defalcation, misapplication

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