accuse

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to bring an accusation against

   I accuse you of stealing the last cookie.

2. 2
   verb

   to blame for, make a claim of wrongdoing or misbehavior against

   I accused my neighbor of throwing a rock through my window.

3. 3
   verb

   To find fault with, blame, censure.

   […] and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another.

4. 4
   verb

   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.

5. 5
   verb

   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 battle.

6. 6
   noun

   Accusation.

   And dogged York, that reaches at the moon, / Whose overweening arm I have plucked back, / By false accuse doth level at my life.

Etymology

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.