Other forms: accused, accusing, accuses
To accuse is to say openly that somebody has done something wrong. Accuse him of lying, wrongly accused, she accused them of it.
The construction is accuse somebody of something — of, not for, which is one of the most common errors. In law, the accused is the person facing a criminal charge, and the phrase is used to avoid implying guilt. Note accusation, the noun; accusatory, describing a tone; and that accuse is a serious verb — English has allege, suggest and imply for the softer versions.
1verbaccuseTo say openly that somebody has done wrong.
“She accused her brother of eating the last slice of cake.”
accuse is a charging with wrongdoing.
Latin accusare is ad-, to, plus causa, a cause or lawsuit — to call somebody to a case. Cause, excuse and accuse are all the same noun, and to excuse somebody is to call them out of the case instead.
Old French
acuser
Middle English
acusen
English, today
accuse
Built from
From Middle English acusen, from Old French acuser. 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 and Old English sċyldan.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA