peculator vs thief

peculator and thief both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
peculator	Yes	No	No	No
thief	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, thief is a hypernym of peculator; that is, thief is a word with a broader meaning than peculator:

peculator: someone who violates a trust by taking (money) for his own use
thief: a criminal who takes property belonging to someone else with the intention of keeping it or selling it

Other hypernyms of peculator include beguiler, cheat, cheater, deceiver, slicker, trickster, stealer.

peculator (noun)	thief (noun)
someone who violates a trust by taking (money) for his own use	a criminal who takes property belonging to someone else with the intention of keeping it or selling it