Meanings
present singular third person indicts · participle present indicting · participle past indicted · past indicted
- transitiveTo accuse of wrongdoing; charge.
a book that indicts modern values
1 more example
Co-writer Jonathan Keasey has said the film will aim to indict “our nonstop, 24-7 media cycle that convicts and ruins the lives of so many people without any due process”.
2023 September 29, Benjamin Lee, quoting Jonathan Keasey, “OceanGate Titan sub disaster movie in the offing”, in The Guardian, →ISSN - transitivelawTo make a formal accusation or indictment for a crime against (a party) by the findings of a jury, especially a grand jury.
his former manager was indicted for fraud
2 more examples
Having been indicted by the U.S. government for violating the anti-Serbian sanctions, Bobby blamed Jews and the N.Y. Times, "which is controlled by rich Jews."
1991, Wilmot Robertson (contributor), Instauration, volumes 17-18, page 28“Now, let’s consider what our competition did in the same six-week period,” wrote Betsy Ankney, Haley’s campaign manager. “Donald Trump had a good Q1, if you count being indicted as ‘good.'"
2023 April 11 [2023 April 10], Sarah Elbeshbishi, quoting Betsy Ankney, “Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley slams Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis in campaign letter”, in USA Today, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 12 Apr 2023Synonyms: arraign, charge, inculpate, accriminate, accuse, appeach, arraign, becry
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo make a formal accusation or indictment for a crime against (a party) by the findings of a jury, especially a grand jury.
Origin
- Late Latinindictāre
- Old Frenchenditer“to dictate, indite”
- Middle Englishenditen
- Englishindict
From Middle English enditen, endyten (“to accuse”), from Old French enditer (“to dictate, indite”), from Late Latin indictāre, frequentative of Latin indicere (“to proclaim”), from in- + dicere (“to say”), or from in- + dictāre (“to say often, to dictate”). Doublet of indite. The irregular spelling is due to the word having been borrowed into Middle English from Old French, and not from Latin as was the case with most other descendants of dictāre (but see dight). The borrowed /iː/ regularly shifted to /aɪ/ in the course of the Great Vowel Shift; the ⟨c⟩ represents a later attempt at graphic Latinisation.
More words from Middle English, Old French, Late Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian предявявам обвинение
- предявявам обвинение (predjavjavam obvinenie)to make a formal accusation or indictment
Catalan acusar, inculpar
- acusarto accuse of wrongdoing
- inculparto make a formal accusation or indictment
Chinese Mandarin 控告, 起訴 /起诉
- 控告 (kònggào)to accuse of wrongdoing
- 起訴 /起诉 (qǐsù)to make a formal accusation or indictment
Czech obvinit, obviňovat
- obvinitto accuse of wrongdoing
- obviňovatto accuse of wrongdoing
- obžalovatto make a formal accusation or indictment
- obvinitto make a formal accusation or indictment
Dutch beschuldigen, aanklagen
- beschuldigento accuse of wrongdoing
- aanklagento make a formal accusation or indictment
Esperanto akuzi
- akuzito accuse of wrongdoing
Finnish syyttää, syyttää
- syyttääto accuse of wrongdoing
- syyttääto make a formal accusation or indictment
French accuser, inculper
- accuserto accuse of wrongdoing
- inculperto make a formal accusation or indictment
German anklagen, beschuldigen
- anklagento accuse of wrongdoing
- beschuldigento accuse of wrongdoing
- anklagento make a formal accusation or indictment
- beschuldigento make a formal accusation or indictment
Hungarian vádol, vádat emel
- vádolto accuse of wrongdoing
- vádat emelto make a formal accusation or indictment
- megvádolto make a formal accusation or indictment
Irish díotáil
- díotáilto make a formal accusation or indictment
Italian accusare, incriminare
- accusareto accuse of wrongdoing
- incriminareto make a formal accusation or indictment
Japanese 起訴する
- 起訴する (kiso suru)to make a formal accusation or indictment
Korean 기소하다
- 기소하다 (gisohada)to make a formal accusation or indictment
Latin accuso, crīminō
- accusoto accuse of wrongdoing
- crīminōto make a formal accusation or indictment
Persian متهم کردن
- متهم کردن (mottaham kardan)to accuse of wrongdoing
Polish oskarżyć, oskarżać
- oskarżyćto accuse of wrongdoing
- oskarżaćto accuse of wrongdoing
Portuguese acusar, acusar
- acusarto accuse of wrongdoing
- acusarto make a formal accusation or indictment
- indiciarto make a formal accusation or indictment
Russian обвиня́ть, обвини́ть
- обвиня́ть (obvinjátʹ)to accuse of wrongdoing
- обвини́ть (obvinítʹ)to accuse of wrongdoing
- обвиня́ть (obvinjátʹ)to make a formal accusation or indictment
- обвини́ть (obvinítʹ)to make a formal accusation or indictment
- осужда́ть (osuždátʹ)to make a formal accusation or indictment
- осуди́ть (osudítʹ)to make a formal accusation or indictment
Spanish sindicar
- sindicarto make a formal accusation or indictment
Swedish beskylla, anklaga
- beskyllato accuse of wrongdoing
- anklagato accuse of wrongdoing
- angripato accuse of wrongdoing
- åtalato make a formal accusation or indictment
Welsh cyhuddo, ditio
- cyhuddoto make a formal accusation or indictment
- ditioto make a formal accusation or indictment
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with indict
Sounds the same
Cite this entry
indict. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/indict
“indict.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/indict. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “indict,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/indict.
Source: indict on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.