BIGpedia - Accuse - Encyclopedia and Dictionary Online

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Old French acuser , French accuser, Latin accusare, to call to account, accuse; ad- + causa cause, lawsuit. Compare cause

'ac-cuse*

Imperfect and past participle: accused
Present participle: accusing

to find fault with or put blame on someone
To charge with, or declare to have committed, a crime or offense
(Law): to charge with an offense, judicially or by a public process; -- with of; as, to accuse one of a high crime or misdemeanor
Quotations
- Neither can they prove the things whereof they now accuse me. - Acts 24:13
- We are accused of having persuaded Austria and Sardinia to lay down their arms. - Macaulay
To charge with a fault; to blame; to censure.
Quotations
- Their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another. - Romans, 2:15
To betray; to show - Philip Sidney

To Accuse, Charge, Impeach, Arraign . These words agree in bringing home to a person the imputation of wrongdoing.
To accuse is a somewhat formal act, and is applied usually (though not exclusively) to crimes; as, to accuse of treason.
Charge is the most generic. It may refer to a crime, a dereliction of duty, a fault, etc.; more commonly it refers to moral delinquencies; as, to charge with dishonesty or falsehood.
To arraign is to bring (a person) before a tribunal for trial; as, to arraign one before a court or at the bar public opinion.
To impeach is officially to charge with misbehavior in office; as, to impeach a minister of high crimes.
Both impeach and arraign convey the idea of peculiar dignity or impressiveness.