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

The plea was yet another unusual move from the 24-year-old gunman, who often skipped his court appearances and was accused of staring down the victim’s families during hearings. —Chicago Tribune, 4 Mar. 2025

One of the two suspects was accused of throwing coffee at one of the airport staffers during the scuffle, a representative from the Miami-Dade County Sheriff's Office told PEOPLE. —Jen Juneau, People.com, 4 Mar. 2025

Figures on the right, meanwhile, accuse Pritzker and other critics of Trump on the right of calling out far-right extremism and ignoring far-left antisemitism. —Andrew Silow-Carroll, Sun Sentinel, 4 Mar. 2025

The articles accused Catholic Charities Fort Worth of participating in conspiracy theories of immigrants invading the country. —Cody Copeland, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 4 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