Accused

How to spell accused

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce accused

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does accused mean?

1. verbCharged someone with a fault, crime, or wrongdoing.
2. nounThe person who has been charged with a crime and is on trial.

Accused in a sentence

• verb

  The manager accused two staff members of falsifying their timesheets.

• noun

  The accused entered the courtroom flanked by two officers.

• verb

  She accused her neighbour of moving the boundary fence overnight.

• noun

  The jury found the accused guilty on all counts.

Where does accused come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word traces back to the Latin verb accusare, meaning 'to call to account' or 'to bring a charge against', which was formed from ad-, meaning 'toward', and causa, meaning 'a lawsuit, a cause, or a legal case'. The literal sense was to put someone before a legal cause, that is, to make them answer a charge. English took the verb in during the 1300s by way of Old French acuser, and the spelling later settled with the double c under the influence of the original Latin form. The same causa root still lives inside the everyday words 'cause' and 'excuse', and recognising that shared core helps explain the single s in the middle of accused. The past-tense and participle form simply adds the regular -ed ending, and the noun use, 'the accused' for the person on trial, grew naturally out of the participle.

How the word is built

• ac- (to, toward, from Latin ad-)
• cus (from causa: lawsuit, legal case)
• -ed (past-tense/participle suffix)