Wiktionary

accuse

See also: accusé

EnglishEdit

EtymologyEdit

First attested around 1300. From Middle English acusen, from Old French acuser, from Latin accūsō (“to call to account, accuse”), from ad (“to”) + causa (“cause, lawsuit, reason”). Akin to cause. Displaced native English bewray.

PronunciationEdit

VerbEdit

accuse (third-person singular simple present accuses, present participle accusing, simple past and past participle accused)

  1. (transitive) to find fault with, blame, censure
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Romans 2:15:
      […] and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another.
    • 1849 February 2, Lord Palmerston, The Address in Answer to the Speech—Adjourned Debate, House of Commons; republished as Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, volume 102, third series, 1849, page 216:
      We are accused of having persuaded Austria and Sardinia to lay down their arms when their differences might have involved the Powers of Europe in contention.
  2. (transitive, law, followed by "of") to charge with having committed a crime or offence
    For the U.S. President to be impeached, he must be accused of a high crime or misdemeanor.
    Synonyms: charge, indict, impeach, arraign
  3. (intransitive) to make an accusation against someone
    • 2013 June 8, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 55:
      According to this saga of intellectual-property misanthropy, these creatures [patent trolls] roam the business world, buying up patents and then using them to demand extravagant payouts from companies they accuse of infringing them. Often, their victims pay up rather than face the costs of a legal battle.
    Synonyms: blame, censure, reproach, criminate

Related termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

NounEdit

accuse (uncountable)

  1. (obsolete) Accusation.
    • c. 1596–1599, Shakespeare, William, Henry IV, Part 2, act 3, scene 1, lines 158–160:
      And dogged York, that reaches at the moon, / Whose overweening arm I have plucked back, / By false accuse doth level at my life.

Further readingEdit

AnagramsEdit

FrenchEdit

PronunciationEdit

VerbEdit

accuse

  1. inflection of accuser:
    1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
    2. second-person singular imperative

ItalianEdit

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): /akˈku.ze/
  • Rhymes: -uze
  • Hyphenation: ac‧cù‧se

NounEdit

accuse f

  1. plural of accusa

PortugueseEdit

VerbEdit

accuse

  1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of accusar
  2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of accusar
  3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of accusar
  4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of accusar
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