Bezel vs embezzle

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Grammarist

Bezel and embezzle are pronounced in a similar fashion. The two words seem to be related, but they are not. We will examine the definitions of bezel and embezzle, where these words came from and some examples of their use in sentences.

A bezel is a rim or ring that holds the crystal, glass, or lens in place on a watch, flashlight, compass, or other item. The word bezel may also be used to mean the rim or ring that holds a stone in place. A jewelry bezel is made of a metal like yellow gold, rose gold, white gold, silver, copper, or platinum. A bezel has grooves and notches cut in it to hold the crystal, lens or gem in place. If these grooves or notches become damaged, the crystal or gem may fall out of the watch or jewelry item. Bezel sometimes means the face of a cut gem such a diamond, ruby, emerald, sapphire, topaz, or even a zircon, that protrudes outward from a setting. The word bezel is derived from the Old French word besel which means a stone with two angles.

Embezzle means to misappropriate money or to steal money, secretly, from one’s employer, from a trust, or a charitable organization. The word embezzle is different from the word steal in that it implies a theft that has occurred over a long period of time, and has been hidden until the perpetrator is discovered. This often involves falsifying accounting records. Embezzle is a transitive verb, which is a verb that takes an object. Related words are embezzles, embezzled, embezzling, embezzler, embezzlement. The word embezzle is derived from the Anglo-French word enbesiler, which means to make away with or to make disappear. The words bezel and embezzle are not related.

Examples

In an official announcement, Apple’s Face ID component supplier AMS has revealed technology which can remove the iPhone’s notch and open the door to the truly bezel-less design of our dreams. (Forbes Magazine)

The bezel relief features a krater (mixing vessel) as the motif, flanked by inscribed letters “PI” on the left and “LATO” on the right. (The Federalist)

The watch is a typical Royal Oak Offshore, with a 44mm case that comes in steel or rose gold, and features the famed mega tapisserie dial and the octagonal screwed-down bezel. (The South China MOrning Post)

An Okemos attorney who embezzled nearly $30,000 from a former client will have to pay back all the money she took.  (The Lansing State Journal)

Two nuns who formerly worked at St. James Catholic School in Torrance, California, confessed to embezzling at least $500,000 from the school so that they could gamble it away at Las Vegas casinos, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles said at a meeting with parents and alumni on Monday. (The New York Post)

A former chief financial officer of a Holly Hill roofing company accused of embezzling more than $150,000 from his employer insisted on his innocence, but technically pleaded guilty Wednesday in an odd arrangement that even had the judge perplexed. (The Daytona Beach News-Journal)