accused

US/əˈkjuzd/

nounB1Very common — you will meet it every day · #2,021 of 15,258leans written

The accused is the person a court says has done wrong. The accused stood, on behalf of the accused, the accused denies it.

It is used as a noun with the, and it takes a singular or plural verb depending on how many there are. The word is chosen because it says nothing about guilt — the accused is accused and nothing more until a verdict. Note defendant, which is the commoner term in civil cases.

Definitions of accused

1nounaccusedThe person a court says has done wrong.B1
“The accused stood up as the judge came into the courtroom.”

accused is a party in a case.

Where it comes from

* noun First attested in the 1590's.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

accused in the wild

In Scots law, the terms "accused" or "panel" are used instead in criminal proceedings and "defender" in civil proceedings.
Defendant
Usually, accusations of witchcraft were made by neighbors of accused witches, and followed from social tensions.
Witchcraft
While magical healers and midwives were sometimes accused of witchcraft, they made up a minority of those accused.
Witchcraft
The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693.
Salem witch trials
The residency of many of the accused is now unknown; around 151 of those people are able to be traced back to twenty-five different New England communities.
Salem witch trials

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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