accuse

verb ac·cuse \ ə-ˈkyüz \

Updated on: 14 May 2018

Definition of accuse

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

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accuser

play \ə-ˈkyü-zər\ noun

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Examples of accuse in a Sentence

she was accused of lying on the employment application

Recent Examples of accuse from the Web

On Monday, New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman resigned after The New Yorker published the accounts of four women who accused him of physical abuse.

— gabriella paiella, The Cut, "Court Filing Suggests Trump Knew About the Schneiderman Allegations Years Ago," 11 May 2018
Earlier this week, two more women came forward, accusing him of similar actions.

— alex warner, Marie Claire, "Spotify Is Actually Muting R. Kelly with a New Policy," 10 May 2018
Moore found a warrant for Arnold’s arrest on a probation violation charge — the warrant accused him of leaving Orange County, missing court costs payments, and missing his drug and alcohol evaluation.

— gal tziperman lotan, OrlandoSentinel.com, "Arrest made in bail bondsman's killing," 10 May 2018
This success has also generated conspiracy theories among some black men, who are accusing the campaign of painting them in a negative light.

— terrell jermaine starr, The Root, "Tarana Burke: Black Community Needs to Have Uncomfortable Conversations About Sexual Violence," 9 May 2018
And in Ohio, Democrats nominated Rachel Crooks, a woman who has accused Mr. Trump of forcibly kissing her, for a seat in the State Legislature.

— New York Times, "Eric Schneiderman Falls. Trump Allies Gloat. Democrats Seethe.," 9 May 2018
For instance, the bank agreed Friday to pay $480 million to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by shareholders who accused Wells Fargo of securities fraud related to the scandal.

— james f. peltz, latimes.com, "Wells Fargo launches ad campaign to leave accounts scandal behind. Not everyone is buying it," 9 May 2018
While Meghan's estranged half-siblings accuse her of abandoning the family, other sources claim otherwise.

— caroline picard, Good Housekeeping, "What Is Meghan Markle's Relationship With Her Dad, Thomas Markle?," 9 May 2018
In a probably unwise video posted on October 29th, C.R. echoed those sentiments, freely admitting to the exact thing that Epic Games accuses him of.

— sarah jeong, The Verge, "The curious case of the Fortnite cheater," 9 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'accuse.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of accuse

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 ¹cause

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 13th century

in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

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