accuse
Syllables: ac·cuseUK/əˈkjuːz//əˈkjuz/
accuse verb: to find fault with, blame, censure.
Verb
accuse (third-person singular simple present accuses, present participle accusing, simple past and past participle accused)
- To find fault with, blame, censure.
- […] and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Romans 2:15
- 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.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
- 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.
- Neither can they prove the things whereof they now accuse me.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 24:13
- To make an accusation against someone.
- 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...2013 June 8, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 55
Noun
accuse (uncountable)
- Accusation.
- And dogged York, that reaches at the moon, / Whose overweening arm I have plucked back, / By false accuse doth level at my life.c. 1596–1599, William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 2, act 3, scene 1, lines 158–160
accuse meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
accuse in Hindi
- attribute blame to someone
- आरोप लगाना ārop lagānā
accuse in Tamil
- குற்றம் சாட்டு, பழிகூறு, குற்றம் சுமத்து, பழிசுமத்து
accuse in Urdu
- attribute blame to someone
- الزام لگانا ilzām lagānā
accuse in Bengali
- অভিযোগ করা, অভিযুক্ত করা, দোষারোপ করা
More languagesFewer languages
- accuse in Malayalam
- പഴിക്കുക paḻikkuka
- accuse in Kannada
- ತಪ್ಪುಹೊರಿಸು, ತೆಗಳು
- accuse in Sanskrit
- गर्हति garhati, गर्ह् garh
- accuse in Tagalog
- magbintang, pagbintangan
- accuse in Arabic
- اِتَّهَمَ ittahama
- accuse in Indonesian
- menuduh
Examples of accuse in a sentence
- Shakespeare's King Lear accuses Cordelia of undaughterly conduct.
- How dare you accuse me like that!
- How dare she accuse me like that?
Synonyms of accuse
24 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of accuse
| third-person singular present | accuses |
|---|---|
| present participle | accusing |
| past participle | accused |
| past | accused |
| second-person singular present (archaic) | accusest |
| second-person singular past (archaic) | accusedst |
| third-person singular present (archaic) | accuseth |
Origin of 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.
Words formed from accuse
Words that rhyme with accuse
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- amuse
- bemuse
- choose
- excuse
- misuse
- muse
- ooze
- peruse
- booze
- druse
- news
- ruse
- snooze
- suffuse
- transfuse
- who's
- whose
- circumfuse
- cooze
- defuse
- diffuse
- enthuse
- flues
- fuze
- jalouse
- mews
- perfuse
- snooz
- Toulouse
- twos
- yous
- 'scuse
- accrues
- aloos
- bambooze
- blooze
- boos
- boose
- brews
- canoes
- chews
- clews
- clues
- construes
- contuse
- coos
- coups
- crews
Questions about accuse
- What does accuse mean?
- Accuse means to find fault with, blame, censure.
- What is accuse in Hindi?
- Accuse in Hindi is आरोप लगाना (ārop lagānā). See Accuse meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is accuse?
- Accuse can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce accuse?
- Accuse is pronounced /əˈkjuːz/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of accuse?
- The past tense of accuse is accused.
Words near accuse in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: accuse (page history and authors); accuse (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); accuse (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); പഴിക്കുക (Malayalam) (page history and authors); accuse (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); गर्हति (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-accuse.ogg.
Cite this entry: “accuse.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/accuse. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.