Adjacent Words

Accuse definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

ACCU'SE, v.t. [L. accuso, to blame or accuse; ad and causor, to blame, or accuse; causa, blame, suit, or process, cause. See Cause.]
1. To charge with, or declare to have committed a crime, either by plaint, or complaint, information, indictment, or impeachment; to charge with an offense against the laws, judicially or by a public process; as, to accuse one of a high crime or misdemeanor.
2. To charge with a fault; to blame.
Their thoughts, in the meanwhile, accusing or excusing one another. Romans 2.
It is followed by of before the subject of accusation; the use of for after this verb is illegitimate.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: bring an accusation against; level a charge against; "The neighbors accused the man of spousal abuse" [syn: accuse, impeach, incriminate, criminate]
2: blame for, make a claim of wrongdoing or misbehavior against; "he charged the director with indifference" [syn: charge, accuse]

Merriam Webster's

verb (accused; accusing) Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French accuser, from Latin accusare to call to account, from ad- + causa lawsuit Date: 14th century transitive verb 1. to charge with a fault or offense ; blame 2. to charge with an offense judicially or by a public process intransitive verb to bring an accusation • accuser noun • accusingly adverb

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. 1 (foll. by of) charge (a person etc.) with a fault or crime; indict (accused them of murder; was accused of stealing a car). 2 lay the blame on. Phrases and idioms: the accused the person charged with a crime. Derivatives: accuser n. accusingly adv. Etymology: ME acuse f. OF ac(c)user f. L accusare (as AC-, CAUSE)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Accuse Ac*cuse", n. Accusation. [Obs.] --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Accuse Ac*cuse", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Accused; p. pr. & vb. n. Accusing.] [OF. acuser, F. accuser, L. accusare, to call to account, accuse; ad + causa cause, lawsuit. Cf. Cause.] 1. To charge with, or declare to have committed, a crime or offense; (Law) to charge with an offense, judicially or by a public process; -- with of; as, to accuse one of a high crime or misdemeanor. Neither can they prove the things whereof they now accuse me. --Acts xxiv. 13. We are accused of having persuaded Austria and Sardinia to lay down their arms. --Macaulay. 2. To charge with a fault; to blame; to censure. Their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another. --Rom. ii. 15. 3. To betray; to show. [L.] --Sir P. Sidney. Syn: To charge; blame; censure; reproach; criminate; indict; impeach; arraign. Usage: To Accuse, Charge, Impeach, Arraign. These words agree in bringing home to a person the imputation of wrongdoing. To accuse is a somewhat formal act, and is applied usually (though not exclusively) to crimes; as, to accuse of treason. Charge is the most generic. It may refer to a crime, a dereliction of duty, a fault, etc.; more commonly it refers to moral delinquencies; as, to charge with dishonesty or falsehood. To arraign is to bring (a person) before a tribunal for trial; as, to arraign one before a court or at the bar public opinion. To impeach is officially to charge with misbehavior in office; as, to impeach a minister of high crimes. Both impeach and arraign convey the idea of peculiar dignity or impressiveness.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(accuses, accusing, accused) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. If you accuse someone of doing something wrong or dishonest, you say or tell them that you believe that they did it. He was accusing my mum of having an affair with another man... Talk things through in stages. Do not accuse or apportion blame. VERB: V n of n/-ing, V 2. If you are accused of a crime, a witness or someone in authority states or claims that you did it, and you may be formally charged with it and put on trial. Her assistant was accused of theft and fraud by the police... All seven charges accused him of lying in his testimony... The accused men have been given relatively light sentences. VERB: be V-ed of n, V n of n, V-ed 3. see also accused, accusing 4. If someone stands accused of something, they have been accused of it. The candidate stands accused of breaking promises even before he's in office... PHRASE: V inflects, PHR of n/-ing

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. Charge, impeach, arraign, indict, criminate, incriminate, inculpate, tax, inform against, call to account, take to task, blame, censure.

Moby Thesaurus

accuse of, allege, anathematize, anathemize, animadvert on, arraign, article, attribute, blame, book, bring accusation, bring charges, bring to book, call to account, cast blame upon, cast reflection upon, censure, charge, charge with, cite, complain, complain against, condemn, criminate, criticize, cry down, cry out against, cry out on, cry shame upon, damn, decry, denounce, denunciate, fasten on, fasten upon, finger, fulminate against, hang something on, impeach, imply, impugn, impute, incriminate, inculpate, indict, inform against, inform on, insinuate, inveigh against, lay charges, lodge a complaint, lodge a plaint, pin on, prefer charges, press charges, put on report, reflect upon, report, reprehend, reproach, reprobate, shake up, take to task, task, taunt with, tax, twit