accusation

English

Alternative forms

• (obsolete) accusasiowne (15th century)
• (obsolete) accusacion (15th century)

Etymology

First attested in the late 14th century. 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.ju.ˈzeɪ.ʃən/, /ˌæk.jə.ˈzeɪ.ʃən/

• Audio (US)

  (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)
• 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)
• 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)
• 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)
• 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

• accuser

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