Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - accuse

(accuses, accusing, accused) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. If you accuse someone of doing something wrong or dishonest, you say or tell them that you believe that they did it. He was accusing my mum of having an affair with another man... Talk things through in stages. Do not accuse or apportion blame. VERB: V n of n/-ing, V 2. If you are accused of a crime, a witness or someone in authority states or claims that you did it, and you may be formally charged with it and put on trial. Her assistant was accused of theft and fraud by the police... All seven charges accused him of lying in his testimony... The accused men have been given relatively light sentences. VERB: be V-ed of n, V n of n, V-ed 3. see also accused, accusing 4. If someone stands accused of something, they have been accused of it. The candidate stands accused of breaking promises even before he’s in office... PHRASE: V inflects, PHR of n/-ing