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
- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: əkyo͞ozʹ, IPA(key): /əˈkjuːz/
- (US) IPA(key): /əˈkjuz/
Audio (US) (file)
- Rhymes: -uːz
- Hyphenation: ac‧cuse
VerbEdit
accuse (third-person singular simple present accuses, present participle accusing, simple past and past participle accused)
- (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.
- (transitive, law, followed by "of") to charge with having committed a crime or offence
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Acts 24:13:
- Neither can they prove the things whereof they now accuse me.
- (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.
Related termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
attribute blame to someone
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- 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.
NounEdit
accuse (uncountable)
- (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
- “accuse” in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- “accuse” in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
- accuse at OneLook Dictionary Search.
AnagramsEdit
FrenchEdit
PronunciationEdit
Audio (file)
VerbEdit
accuse
- inflection of accuser:
ItalianEdit
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
accuse f
PortugueseEdit
VerbEdit
accuse