accuse

verb

ac·cuse ə-ˈkyüz

accused; accusing

Synonyms of accuse next

transitive verb

: to charge with a fault or offense : blame

He accused her of being disloyal.

: 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

Examples of accuse in a Sentence

she was accused of lying on the employment application

Recent Examples on the Web However, Russia’s peacekeeping contingent has been accused of failing to implemented the ceasefire. —

Tim Lister, CNN, 20 Sep. 2023 Tuberville's stall has sparked outrage from Democrats, who accuse him of jeopardizing national security. —

Kathryn Watson, CBS News, 20 Sep. 2023 Goh is also accused of pushing up the price of the company’s securities by placing orders and executing trades using his bank investment account. —

TIME, 20 Sep. 2023 The dead included Sikh militant leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, whom the Indian government accused of leading the armed insurgency. —

Time, 20 Sep. 2023 Herbel accused Cody of falsifying the documents used to obtain the search warrants. —

Minyvonne Burke, NBC News, 20 Sep. 2023 Brown’s lawsuit accuses the department of maintaining a strip-search policy that allows officers to subject non-arrestees to demeaning searches based solely on an officer’s suspicion. —

Daniel Wu, Washington Post, 20 Sep. 2023 Since the #MeToo movement erupted in 2017 and survivors have come forward to the media, on social media or through the legal system, defamation and libel lawsuits have been a common strategy among those accused of misconduct. —

Ethan Millman, Rolling Stone, 20 Sep. 2023 HuffPost then reported that November that a fourth woman had accused Masterson of raping her in the early 2000s. —

Stephanie Wenger, Peoplemag, 20 Sep. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'accuse.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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

Time Traveler

The first known use of accuse was in the 13th century

See more words from the same century