Category:Accuse

Ac*cuse", n.

Defn: Accusation. [Obs.] Shak.

Ac*cuse", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Accused; p. pr. & vb. n. Accusing.] Etym: [OF. acuser, F. accuser, L. accusare, to call to account, accuse; ad + causa cause, lawsuit. Cf. Cause.]

1. To charge with, or declare to have committed, a crime or offense; (Law)

Defn: to charge with an offense, judicially or by a public process; - - with of; as, to accuse one of a high crime or misdemeanor. Neither can they prove the things whereof they now accuse me. Acts xxiv. 13. We are accused of having persuaded Austria and Sardinia to lay down their arms. Macaulay.

2. To charge with a fault; to blame; to censure. Their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another. Rom. ii. 15.

3. To betray; to show. Etym: [L.] Sir P. Sidney.

Syn.

-- To charge; blame; censure; reproach; criminate; indict; impeach; arraign.

-- To Accuse, Charge, Impeach, Arraign. These words agree in bringing home to a person the imputation of wrongdoing. To accuse is a somewhat formal act, and is applied usually (though not exclusively) to crimes; as, to accuse of treason. Charge is the most generic. It may refer to a crime, a dereliction of duty, a fault, etc.; more commonly it refers to moral delinquencies; as, to charge with dishonesty or falsehood. To arraign is to bring (a person) before a tribunal for trial; as, to arraign one before a court or at the bar public opinion. To impeach is officially to charge with misbehavior in office; as, to impeach a minister of high crimes. Both impeach and arraign convey the idea of peculiar dignity or impressiveness.