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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

charge.

The amount of money levied for a service.

6 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈt͡ʃɑːd͡ʒ/Received-Pronunciation[ˈt͡ʃʰɑːd͡ʒ]Received-Pronunciation/ˈt͡ʃäːd͡ʒ/Australia[ˈt͡ʃʰäːd͡ʒ]Australia
  1. The amount of money levied for a service.

    countable · uncountable
    There will be a charge of five dollars.
    There is a cancellation charge if you withdraw your order.
  2. An attack in which combatants rush towards an enemy in an attempt to engage in close combat.

    countable · uncountable
    Pickett's Charge; the Charge of the Light Brigade
  3. A forceful forward movement.

    countable · uncountable
  4. An accusation. An official description (by the police or a court) of a crime that somebody may be guilty of.

    countable · uncountable
    two charges of manslaughter
  5. An accusation. An accusation by a person or organization.

    countable · uncountable
    That's a slanderous charge of abuse of trust.
  6. An electric charge.

    countable · uncountable
  7. The scope of someone's responsibility.

    countable · uncountable
    The child was in the nanny's charge.
  8. Someone or something entrusted to one's care, such as a child to a babysitter or a student to a teacher.

    countable · uncountable
    The child was a charge of the nanny.
  9. A load or burden; cargo.

    countable · uncountable
    The ship had a charge of colonists and their belongings.
  10. An instruction.

    countable · uncountable
    I gave him the charge to get the deal closed by the end of the month.
  11. A mortgage.

    countable · uncountable
  12. An offensive foul in which the player with the ball moves into a stationary defender.

    countable · uncountable
  13. A measured amount of powder and/or shot in a cartridge.

    countable · uncountable
  14. A measured amount of explosive.

    broadly · countable · uncountable
  15. An image displayed on an escutcheon.

    countable · uncountable
  16. A position (of a weapon) fitted for attack.

    countable · uncountable
    to bring a weapon to the charge
  17. A sort of plaster or ointment.

    countable · uncountable
  18. Weight; import; value.

    countable · obsolete · uncountable
  19. A measure of thirty-six pigs of lead, each pig weighing about seventy pounds; a charre.

    countable · historical · obsolete · uncountable
  20. An address given at a church service concluding a visitation.

    countable · uncountable
  21. Cannabis.

    slang · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱers- Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥sós Proto-Celtic *karros Gaulish *karrosbor. Latin carrus Latin -ic- 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 -ico Latin carricō Late Latin carricāre Old French chargierder. Middle English chargen English charge From Middle English chargen, from Old French chargier, from Late Latin carricō (“to load”), from Latin carrus (“a car, wagon”); see car. Doublet of cargo.

verb/ˈt͡ʃɑːd͡ʒ/Received-Pronunciation[ˈt͡ʃʰɑːd͡ʒ]Received-Pronunciation/ˈt͡ʃäːd͡ʒ/Australia[ˈt͡ʃʰäːd͡ʒ]Australia
  1. To assign a duty or responsibility to; to order.

  2. To assign (a debit) to an account.

    transitive
    Let's charge this to marketing.
    The law firm's billings are up this month: she's charged 1,000 billing hours to that case.
  3. To require payment (of) (a price or fee, for goods, services, etc.).

    ambitransitive
    to charge high for goods
    I won't charge you for the wheat.
  4. To pay on account, as by using a credit card.

    US · transitive
    Can I charge my purchase to my credit card?
    Can I charge this purchase?
  5. To sell (something) at a given price.

    dated · transitive
    to charge coal at $5 per unit
  6. To formally accuse (a person) of a crime.

    transitive
    I'm charging you with assault and battery.
  7. To mortgage (a property).

    transitive
  8. To impute or ascribe.

  9. To call to account; to challenge.

  10. To place a burden, load or responsibility on or in.

    transitive
  11. To place a burden, load or responsibility on or in. To ornament with or cause to bear.

    transitive
    to charge an architectural member with a moulding
  12. To place a burden, load or responsibility on or in. To assume as a bearing.

    transitive
    He charges three roses.
  13. To place a burden, load or responsibility on or in. To add to or represent on.

    transitive
    He charges his shield with three roses or.
  14. To load equipment with material required for its use, as a firearm with powder, a fire hose with water, a chemical reactor with raw materials.

    transitive
    Charge your weapons; we're moving up.
  15. To load equipment with material required for its use, as a firearm with powder, a fire hose with water, a chemical reactor with raw materials. To cause to take on an electric charge.

    transitive
    Rubbing amber with wool will charge it quickly.
  16. To load equipment with material required for its use, as a firearm with powder, a fire hose with water, a chemical reactor with raw materials. To replenish energy to (a battery, or a device containing a battery) by use of an electrical device plugged into a power outlet.

    transitive
    He charged the battery overnight.
    Don't forget to charge the drill.
  17. To load equipment with material required for its use, as a firearm with powder, a fire hose with water, a chemical reactor with raw materials. To replenish energy.

    intransitive · transitive
    The battery is still charging: I can't use it yet.
    His cell phone charges very quickly, whereas mine takes forever.
  18. To move forward quickly and forcefully, particularly in combat and/or on horseback.

    intransitive
  19. To move forward quickly and forcefully, particularly in combat and/or on horseback. To attack by moving forward quickly in a group.

    intransitive · transitive
    The impetuous corps charged the enemy lines.
  20. To move forward quickly and forcefully, particularly in combat and/or on horseback. To commit a charging foul.

    intransitive
  21. To move forward quickly and forcefully, particularly in combat and/or on horseback. To take a few steps down the pitch towards the bowler as they deliver the ball, either to disrupt the length of the delivery, or to get into a better position to hit the ball.

    intransitive
  22. To lie on the belly and be still. (A command given by a hunter to a dog)

    transitive
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱers- Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥sós Proto-Celtic *karros Gaulish *karrosbor. Latin carrus Latin -ic- 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 -ico Latin carricō Late Latin carricāre Old French chargierder. Middle English chargen English charge From Middle English chargen, from Old French chargier, from Late Latin carricō (“to load”), from Latin carrus (“a car, wagon”); see car. Doublet of cargo.

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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.