Word.ws English Dictionary

defalcation

UK[ˌdɛfəɫˈkeɪʃən]

defalcation noun: the act of cancelling part of a claim by deducting a smaller claim which the claimant owes to the defendant.

defalcation: person holding 10 us dollar bill
Photo by Brittany Bendabout on Unsplash

Noun

defalcation (countable and uncountable, plural defalcations)

  1. The act of cancelling part of a claim by deducting a smaller claim which the claimant owes to the defendant.
  2. Embezzlement.
    • Granting that Mr. Ireland had gone into his office at ten minutes to ten o'clock at night for the purpose of extracting £5000 worth of notes and gold from the bank safe, whilst giving the theft the appearance of a night burglary; […] why should he, at nine o'clock the following morning, fall in a...1909, Emma Orczy, chapter XIX, in The Old Man in the Corner
    • “Why should Eldridge commit murder?[…]There was only one possible motive—namely, he wished to avoid detection as James Selby of Anaconda Ltd. He had settled down in Estrepps. There were several persons in the town who had suffered from his defalcations.[…]”1931, Francis Beeding, “10/6”, in Death Walks in Eastrepps

defalcation meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam

defalcation in Tamil

இழுக்குண்டாக்கல், பணக் கையாடல், பணமோசடி, கையாடல், புகழ் கெடுத்தல்

defalcation in Urdu

غبن

defalcation in Bengali

অর্থের অপব্যবহার, আত্মসাৎ

defalcation in Malayalam

ധനദുർവ്വിനിയോഗം, ദുർവ്വിനിയോഗം ചെയ്ത പണം, തിരിമറി നടത്തിയ ധനം, പണാപഹരണം
More languagesFewer languages
defalcation in Kannada
ತಪ್ಪುಬಳಕೆ, ಸೋರಿಕೆ, ಹಣದ ದುರುಪಯೋಗ, ದ್ರವ್ಯಾಪಹರಣ

Forms of defalcation

pluraldefalcations

Origin of defalcation

Late 15th century, from Medieval Latin dēfalcātiōnem, accusative singular of dēfalcātiō (literally “cutting off, lopping off with a sickle”), nominalization of dēfalcō, from Latin dē (“off”) + falx (“sickle, scythe, pruning hook”), from which also English falcate (“sickle-shaped”). By surface analysis, defalcate + -ion (“the act of”).

Questions about defalcation

What does defalcation mean?
Defalcation means the act of cancelling part of a claim by deducting a smaller claim which the claimant owes to the defendant.
What is defalcation in Tamil?
Defalcation in Tamil is இழுக்குண்டாக்கல், பணக் கையாடல், பணமோசடி. See Defalcation meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is defalcation?
Defalcation is a noun.
How do you pronounce defalcation?
Defalcation is pronounced [ˌdɛfəɫˈkeɪʃən] (UK).
What is the plural of defalcation?
The plural of defalcation is defalcations.

Words near defalcation in the dictionary

  1. Defaka
  2. defalcate
  3. defalcated
  4. defalcates
  5. defalcating
  6. defalcation
  7. defalcations
  8. defalcator
  9. defalcators
  10. DeFalco
  11. DeFalcos

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: defalcation (page history and authors); defalcation (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); defalcation (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); defalcation (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); defalcation (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); defalcation (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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