accuse

verb

ac·​cuse ə-ˈkyüz 

accused; accusing

transitive verb

1

: to charge with a fault or offense : blame

He accused her of being disloyal.

2

: to charge with an offense judicially or by a public process

He was accused of murder.

intransitive verb

: to bring an accusation

accuser

ə-ˈkyü-zər 

noun

Synonyms

• charge
• criminate
• defame [archaic]
• impeach
• incriminate
• indict

Examples of accuse in a Sentence

she was accused of lying on the employment application

Recent Examples on the Web

Pérez was accused of commingling the traffickers’ profits with legitimate revenue from ticket and refreshment sales. —Brittny Mejia, Los Angeles Times, 28 Mar. 2025

Yet the club had drawn one too many games in the opening months of the season, and Motta had been accused of lacking the ruthlessness that’s needed at a club like Juve by some of the club’s former greats. —Emmet Gates, Forbes.com, 28 Mar. 2025

He is accused of stalking the CEO, a married father of two, and shooting him in the back outside a shareholder conference in early December. —Michael Ruiz, FOXNews.com, 28 Mar. 2025

Rudin, who has won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and 18 Tony Awards, was accused by several former staffers in a June 2021 Hollywood Reporter piece of allegedly abusing them. —Samantha Bergeson, IndieWire, 28 Mar. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English acusen, accusen, borrowed from Anglo-French accuser, acuser, borrowed from Latin accūsāre "to blame, censure, charge with a crime," from ad- ad- + -cūsāre, verbal derivative of causa "legal case, reason, cause" — more at cause entry 1

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Rhymes for accuse

• accrues
• aircrews
• amuse
• bamboos
• breakthroughs
• canoes
• cashews
• chartreuse
• confuse
• construes
• defuse
• ensues

Kids Definition

accuse

verb

ac·​cuse ə-ˈkyüz 

accused; accusing

: to blame for wrongdoing : to charge with a fault and especially with a crime

accuser noun

accusingly

-ˈkyü-ziŋ-lē 

adverb

Legal Definition

accuse

verb

ac·​cuse

accused; accusing

transitive verb

: to charge with an offense judicially or by a public process compare indict

intransitive verb

: to make or bring an accusation

accuser noun

Etymology

Latin accusare to find fault with, charge with a crime, from ad to, at + causa legal case, trial