accuse (verb): to charge someone with a crime or wrongdoing, or to claim that someone did something bad, often without presenting proof. It implies stating the fault openly and asserting blame, sometimes in a formal or confrontational context. The word can also be used more broadly for attributing fault or responsibility in discussion or argument.
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"She will accuse him of lying during the meeting."
"They accused the company of misleading shareholders."
"He was quick to accuse others rather than examine his own role."
"The report accuses the government of failing to protect citizens."
Accuse comes from the Middle English accusen, from Old French accuser, from Latin accūsāre, from ad- ‘toward’ + causa ‘a case, reason, lawsuit’. The initial Latin root “causa” evolved into the sense of ‘case or accusation’ in medieval legal and rhetorical language. The prefix ad- intensifies the action, while the suffix -ere marks the verb form in Latin. In English, accusan‑ evolved through Old French to Middle English, with widespread adoption in the legal and social sense of making a charge against someone. By the Early Modern English period, accuse had fully entered common usage in both formal legal prose and everyday argument. The word’s semantic trajectory shifts from a formal legal accusation to general negative attribution in discourse, including settings like journalism, politics, and interpersonal conflict. The pronunciation remained stable around /əˈkjuːz/ in English varieties, though regional vowel shifts affected the first syllable’s reduction and the final z sound. Modern usage preserves its core sense of attributing fault, with nuance depending on intent, evidence, and rhetorical context. The evolution reflects legal-institutional origins and broader communicative needs to name wrongdoing, assign responsibility, and challenge others’ claims across cultures and time. The first known printed attestations appear in English texts from the 14th–15th centuries, aligning with the growth of standardized legal and rhetorical vocabularies in medieval and early modern Europe.
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "accuse" and can often be used interchangeably.
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Words that rhyme with "accuse"
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Practice with these rhyming pairs to improve your pronunciation consistency:
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You say it as ə-KYOOZ, with the primary stress on the second syllable. IPA: US/UK/AU: əˈkjuːz. The /k/ immediately precedes the /juː/ glide, forming /kj/ combined. Open your mouth slightly for the schwa in the first syllable and then tighten to produce the /juː/ glide before the /z/.
Common errors: misplacing stress (stressing the first syllable as AC-cuse), pronouncing /juː/ as a pure /uː/ without the /j/ glide (tying it too tightly to the /k/), and finalizing with a voiced stop instead of the fricative /z/. Correction: ensure the sequence is schwa + secondary reduction, then clear /k/ + /j/ glide into /uː/ and finish with crisp /z/. Practice the transition from /kj/ to /uː/ smoothly.
US/UK/AU share /əˈkjuːz/ but vowel quality and rhoticity affect the tone. US often has a tighter /juː/ vowel with less rounding, UK may show a slightly more rounded and diphthongal /juː/ and non-rhoticity in some varieties; AU tends to maintain rhoticity in careful speech but often reduces /juː/ toward /juə/ in fast speech. Overall vowel duration and linked r-like coloration vary slightly by accent and speaker.
The difficulty lies in the /kj/ cluster before the /uː/ glide and the following /z/. Beginners often mispronounce the /kj/ sequence as /k/ or as /tʃ/ and may vocalize the /juː/ too slowly or merge it with /uː/. The quick transition from the k-stop to the j-glide and onto z requires careful timing and tongue shape. Practice with gradual speed to maintain precision in the glide and final z.
In standard pronunciation, the 'c' is pronounced as /k/ in the initial cluster before /juː/ (letters form /k/). The following letters form the /z/ final sound. There is no silent letter in standard usage; the 'accuse' spelling maps to /əˈkjuːz/. The challenge is maintaining the /kj/ sequence and the /z/ finishing sound clearly rather than a /s/ or /z/ combined with voicing from surrounding sounds.
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