ac ‧ cu ‧ sa ‧ tion /ˌækjəˈzeɪʃ ə n, ˌækjʊˈzeɪʃ ə n/ BrE AmE noun [countable]
[ Word Family: noun : ↑ accusation , the accused, ↑ accuser ; verb : ↑ accuse ; adverb : ↑ accusingly ; adjective : ↑ accusing ]
a statement saying that someone is guilty of a crime or of doing something wrong
accusation against
A number of serious accusations have been made against her.
The main accusation levelled against him was that he tried to avoid military service.
accusation of
His administration now faces accusations of corruption.
accusation that
The organizers of the march strongly denied government accusations that they intended to cause trouble.
Burton’s enemies had made false accusations against him.
She’s made all sorts of wild accusations against me in the past.
They fled the country, amid accusations of corruption.
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COLLOCATIONS
■ verbs
▪ make an accusation
You’ve made a lot of accusations but you haven’t got any evidence.
▪ bring an accusation against somebody
The accusations against him were brought by two 18-year-old women.
▪ level an accusation against/at somebody (=bring an accusation against someone)
As a result, some outrageous accusations were levelled at her.
▪ face an accusation (=have an accusation made about you)
The police faced accusations of using excessive force.
▪ deny/dismiss an accusation
The government denied accusations of corruption.
▪ prove/support an accusation
There were very few facts to support the accusation against him.
■ adjectives
▪ serious
These are very serious accusations indeed.
▪ false
There were a lot of false accusations throughout the trial.
▪ unfounded/groundless (=not based on facts or reason)
The accusation is totally unfounded.
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The embassy denied what it called groundless accusations about its involvement in the attack.
▪ outrageous (=shocking and extremely unfair )
He was drunk and his accusations were becoming more and more outrageous.
▪ a wild accusation (=with no evidence to support it)
She’s made all sorts of wild accusations about him, hasn’t she?
▪ bitter accusations (=angry)
The dispute was marked by bitter accusations from both sides.
▪ repeated accusations
Repeated accusations of neglect were made against the authorities.
▪ renewed accusations (=made again, often in a more forceful way)
The government faced renewed accusations of corruption.
▪ further accusations
There were further accusations of incompetence.
■ phrases
▪ amid accusations of something (=surrounded by accusations)
He fled the country amid accusations of fraud.
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THESAURUS
▪ accusation a statement saying that you believe someone is guilty of a crime or of doing something bad:
The army has faced accusations of racism.
▪ allegation a public statement accusing someone of doing something although it has not been proved:
He denied allegations that he received a bribe.
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Police are investigating allegations of corruption.
▪ charge an official statement by the police accusing someone of a crime and saying that they must go to court, or a statement saying that someone has done something bad, made by anyone:
He appeared in court on a murder charge.
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She denied the charge that the article had been misleading.
▪ indictment law especially American English an official written statement accusing someone of a crime so that they will be judged under the American legal system:
He is under indictment for credit card fraud.