accused

Pluralaccuseds, accused

1. 1
   nouncountable

   The person formally charged with an offense, who stands as defendant in a criminal case.

   The accused entered a plea of not guilty at the arraignment.

   Defense lawyers argued that the accused had a solid alibi for that night.

   Similardefendant

   Oppositeaccuser

   Note

   A courtroom noun made from the participle, first recorded in the 1590s. It nearly always takes the, as in "the accused entered a plea." The same form can name one defendant or several (the accused were remanded), though the plural accuseds also exists. Its counterpart is the accuser. The rarer accusee means the same thing but sounds stiffer.

2. 2
   adjective

   Charged with wrongdoing or singled out as the target of accusations.

   The accused executive resigned before the hearing even began.

   Crowds gathered to support the accused activists outside the courthouse.

   Note

   Here the word describes a condition rather than an act, so it can be graded and even felt. Charlotte Mary Yonge has a queen "more accused than ever" (1883), and a person may simply feel accused. The phrase stand accused of carries a formal, almost judicial weight, as when Charles Grant Robertson writes in 1891 that Venice "stood accused of aspiring" to rule Italy.

3. 3
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of accuse.

   The committee accused the senator of misusing public funds.

   He was accused of fraud after the audit revealed serious discrepancies.

   Note

   One regular -ed form does double duty. It is the simple past in "the committee accused the senator." It is the participle after have or be, as in "has accused" or "was accused." The person blamed is the object, and the charge follows with of: accused him of fraud. The same spelling also stands on its own as the courtroom noun and as an adjective.

Showing meanings only. Show all 3