accuse
- 01 B1 Intermediate
to say officially that someone has committed a crime.
to charge someone with a specific criminal offence or legal violation.
Simple“The police accused the man of stealing a car from the car park.”
In context“The prosecutor formally accused the defendant of conspiracy to commit fraud, citing several encrypted messages as primary evidence.”
UsageFollows the pattern: accuse + someone + of + something.
PitfallThe police accused him for the theft. The police accused him of the theft.Always use the preposition 'of' after the person being accused.
- 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
to say that someone is responsible for something bad or dishonest.
to attribute a moral fault, social error, or personal failure to someone.
Simple“She accused her brother of eating the last piece of cake.”
In context“Critics accused the director of being overly sentimental in the final act of the film, arguing it undermined the previous tension.”
“Beijing rejected the claim, accusing Washington of "politicising" trade issues.”
“Netanyahu hit back by accusing Mamdani of “fomenting hate” and turning different religious groups against each other in his city.”
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.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.