accusation

English

Alternative forms

• accusacion, accusasiowne (obsolete, 15th century)

Etymology

First attested in the late 14th century. Inherited from Middle English accusacion, borrowed from Old French acusacion (French: accusation), from Latin accūsātiō (“accusation, indictment”), from accūsō (“blame, accuse”). Doublet of accusatio. More at accuse. Equivalent to accuse +‎ -ation.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌæk.juˈzeɪ.ʃən/, /ˌæk.jəˈzeɪ.ʃən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (Received Pronunciation):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

accusation (countable and uncountable, plural accusations)

1. The act of accusing.
   • 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

     We come not by the way of accusation / To taint that honour every good tongue blesses.

2. (law) A formal charge brought against a person in a court of law.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 27:37:

     [They] set up over his head his accusation.

3. An allegation.

   ungrounded accusations

   a blind accusation

   repeated accusations

   an accusation of a crime

Synonyms

• allegation
• assertion
• censure
• charge
• crimination
• detection (obsolete)
• impeachment

 

Derived terms

• blood accusation
• counteraccusation
• hackusation
• interaccusation
• misaccusation
• preaccusation
• reaccusation

 

Translations

act of accusing or charging with a crime

• Arabic: اِتِّهَام m (ittihām)
• Armenian: մեղադրանք (hy) (meġadrankʻ)
• Azerbaijani: ittiham
• Belarusian: абвінава́чванне n (abvinaváčvannje), абвінава́чанне n (abvinaváčannje)
• Bulgarian: обвине́ние (bg) n (obvinénie)
• Catalan: acusació (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 控告 (zh) (kònggào), 指控 (zh) (zhǐkòng)

• Czech: obvinění (cs) n
• Danish: anklage (da) c, beskyldning (da)
• Dutch: beschuldiging (nl)
• Esperanto: akuzo
• Finnish: syyttäminen (fi)
• French: accusation (fr) f
• Galician: acusación (gl) f
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Anklage (de) f, Beschuldigung (de) f
• Gothic: 𐌿𐍃𐌵𐌹𐍃𐍃 f (usqiss)
• Greek: κατηγορία (el) f (katigoría)

  Ancient: κατηγορία f (katēgoría), ἔγκλημα n (énklēma)

• Hebrew: אישום m (ishúm), האשמה f (haashamá)
• Hindi: आरोप (hi) (ārop), अभियोग (hi) (abhiyog)
• Hungarian: vád (hu), vádemelés (hu), megvádolás (hu)
• Italian: accusa (it) f
• Japanese: 告発 (ja) (こくはつ, kokuhatsu)
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: 고발 (ko) (gobal)
• Ladino: akuzasyon f
• Latin: accūsātiō f
• Macedonian: обвинување n (obvinuvanje), оптужба f (optužba)
• Mongolian: яллалт (jallalt)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: anklage (no) m or f, beskyldning m or f

  Nynorsk: skulding f

• Occitan: acusacion (oc) f
• Persian: اتهام (fa) (ettehâm)
• Plautdietsch: Kloag f, Aunkloag f
• Polish: oskarżenie (pl) n
• Portuguese: acusação (pt) f
• Romanian: acuzație (ro) f, învinovățire (ro) f
• Russian: обвине́ние (ru) n (obvinénije)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: оптужба f

  Roman: optužba (sh) f

• Slovak: obvinenie n
• Slovene: obtožba f
• Spanish: acusación (es) f
• Swahili: madai (sw)
• Swedish: anklagelse (sv) c, anklagan (sv) c, beskyllning (sv) c
• Tagalog: bintang (tl), akusasyon (tl)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: suçlama (tr)
• Ukrainian: звинува́чення n (zvynuváčennja)
• Vietnamese: sự buộc tội (vi)
• Welsh: cyhuddo (cy) m, cyhuddiad m

that of which one is accused

• Arabic: اِتِّهَام m (ittihām), تُهْمَة f (tuhma)
• Armenian: մեղադրանք (hy) (meġadrankʻ)
• Azerbaijani: təqsir (az), suç (az), günah (az)
• Bulgarian: обвине́ние (bg) n (obvinénie)
• Catalan: acusació (ca) f
• Czech: obvinění (cs) n
• Finnish: syyte (fi)
• French: accusation (fr) f
• Greek: κατηγορία (el) f (katigoría)

  Ancient: κατηγορία m (katēgoría)

• Hungarian: vád (hu), vádpont (hu)
• Japanese: 言いがかり (iigakari)
• Latin: accūsātiō f
• Maori: heitara
• Mongolian: зэмлэл (mn) (zemlel)
• Old English: tihtle f
• Polish: oskarżenie (pl) n
• Portuguese: acusação (pt) f
• Russian: обвине́ние (ru) n (obvinénije)
• Soussian: tummla f, anamul m
• Swahili: madai (sw), mashitaka class 6
• Tagalog: paratang
• Welsh: cyhuddiad m, achwyniad m

declaration of fault or blame against another

• Bulgarian: обвине́ние (bg) n (obvinénie)
• Catalan: acusació (ca) f
• Czech: obvinění (cs) n
• Finnish: syyte (fi), syytös (fi)
• French: accusation (fr) f
• Greek: κατηγορία (el) (katigoría)
• Hindi: आरोप (hi) (ārop)
• Japanese: 告発 (ja) (こくはつ, kokuhatsu)
• Latin: accūsātiō f
• Maori: kupu whakapae, heitara
• Polish: oskarżenie (pl) n
• Portuguese: acusação (pt) f
• Russian: обвине́ние (ru) n (obvinénije)
• Spanish: acusación (es) f
• Swahili: madai (sw), shutuma (sw)
• Swedish: anklagelse (sv) c
• Tagalog: paratang, bintang (tl)
• Ukrainian: звинува́чення n (zvynuváčennja), за́кид m (zákyd)
• Welsh: cyhuddiad m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} akuzo
• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} tuduhan (id)
• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} accusation
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 容疑 (ja) (ようぎ, yōgi)
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} acuzație (ro) f, ^{(please verify)} învinuire (ro) f
• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} tužba (sh), ^{(please verify)} žalba (sh)

Further reading

• “accusation”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• accusation in Britannica Dictionary
• accusation in Macmillan Collocations Dictionary
• accusation in Sentence collocations by Cambridge Dictionary
• accusation in Ozdic collocation dictionary

Anagrams

• anacoustic

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin accūsātiōnem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.ky.za.sjɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

accusation f (plural accusations)

1. accusation

Derived terms

• chef d’accusation

Related terms

• accusable
• accusateur
• accusatif
• accusatoire
• accusatrice
• accuser
• accuser coup
• accuser réception

 

References

• “accusation” in the Dictionnaire de l’Académie française, 8th Edition (1932–35).

Further reading

• “accusation”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Interlingua

Noun

accusation (plural accusationes)

1. accusation