arraign

verb

ar·​raign ə-ˈrān 

arraigned; arraigning; arraigns

transitive verb

1

: to call (a defendant) before a court to answer to an indictment : charge

2

: to accuse of wrong, inadequacy, or imperfection

arraignment

ə-ˈrān-mənt 

noun

Examples of arraign in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Mizuhara will be arraigned in federal court in Los Angeles as soon as Friday. —Michael S. Schmidt, New York Times, 11 Apr. 2024

Asamoah will be arraigned on the indictment after she is cleared by doctors at the psychiatric ward, WABC-TV reported. —Kimberlee Speakman, Peoplemag, 10 Apr. 2024

Her husband posted a $100,000 bond April 1. Both defendants are slated to be arraigned on their respective charges in court on April 15, the Hardin County assistant district attorney handling their case told USA TODAY. —USA TODAY, 9 Apr. 2024

She is slated to be arraigned Friday in San Diego Superior Court. —Teri Figueroa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 Mar. 2024

The assistant principal is expected to be arraigned later this week. —Teri Figueroa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 27 Mar. 2024

He was not indicted and arraigned until last month. —Joe Davidson, Washington Post, 22 Mar. 2024

He was arraigned Monday afternoon and bail was set at $200,000. —Christine Pelisek, Peoplemag, 16 Mar. 2024

He was scheduled to be arraigned Thursday afternoon. —Robert Salonga, The Mercury News, 22 Feb. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English araynen, areynen, arreynen "to ask (a question), ask (someone) a question, interrogate, rebuke, (in law) call upon to answer an accusation," borrowed from Anglo-French arener, araisner, arrener "to speak to, ask questions of, call to account, (in law) call upon to answer an accusation," going back to Vulgar Latin *adratiōnāre, from Latin ad- ad- + Vulgar Latin *ratiōnāre "to speak, converse," verbal derivative of Latin ratiōn-, ratiō "reckoning, calculation, explanation" (early Medieval Latin also "justification, dispute, discussion, speech") — more at reason entry 1

Note: The spoken Latin form *adratiōnāre gave rise to two paradigms in medieval French, one based on stress on the stem (as in first person singular j'araisone), another based on stress on the ending (as in second person plural vous araisniez). In Anglo-French these developed into two more or less distinct verbs (arener and araisuner) with only partial semantic overlap, the legal sense belonging predominantly to arener. The verb araisuner was taken into Middle English as aresounen "to address, ask a question," with "present with an accusation" as a very infrequent meaning; it appears to have dropped from use after the sixteenth century. In modern standard French only the tonic form arraisoner survives; to judge by its inclusion in French-English dictionaries (Larousse, Oxford-Hachette), the most current meaning is "to board and inspect (an airplane or ship)." The g in English arraign, which first turns up in the early sixteenth century, has no evident etymological justification.

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

arraign

verb

ar·​raign ə-ˈrān 

: to call before a court to answer to a charge

arraignment

-mənt 

noun

Legal Definition

arraign

transitive verb

ar·​raign ə-ˈrān 

: to bring (a defendant) before a judge or magistrate to hear the charges and to plead usually either guilty or not guilty compare indict

Note: For a person to be formally arraigned, he or she must be called by name before a judge or magistrate. The judge or magistrate makes sure that the defendant is the person named in the complaint, indictment, or information, which is then read to formally notify the defendant of the charges. The defendant may then enter a plea of guilty, not guilty, or another plea allowed by law such as nolo contendere. In some cases, as when the defendant is not yet represented by a lawyer, the judge or magistrate may enter a plea of not guilty on the defendant's behalf.

arraignment noun

Etymology

Anglo-French arrainer, from Old French araisnier to address, call to account, from a-, prefix stressing goal of an action + raisnier to speak