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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

accuse.

To find fault with, blame, censure.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/əˈkjuːz/Received-Pronunciation/əˈkjuz/US

  1. To find fault with, blame, censure.

    transitive

  2. To charge with having committed a crime or offence.

    transitive
    For the U.S. President to be impeached, he must be accused of a high crime or misdemeanor.

  3. To make an accusation against someone.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd Proto-Italic *ad Proto-Italic *ad- Latin ad- Proto-Italic *kaussā Old Latin caussa Latin causa Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin accūsārelbor. Old French acuserbor. Middle English acusen English accuse 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 and Old English sċyldan.

noun/əˈkjuːz/Received-Pronunciation/əˈkjuz/US

  1. Accusation.

    obsolete · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd Proto-Italic *ad Proto-Italic *ad- Latin ad- Proto-Italic *kaussā Old Latin caussa Latin causa Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin accūsārelbor. Old French acuserbor. Middle English acusen English accuse 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 and Old English sċyldan.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.