accusatory

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd

Proto-Italic *ad

Proto-Italic *ad-

Latin ad-

Proto-Italic *kaussā

Old Latin caussa

Latin causa

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti

Proto-Italic *-āō

Latin -ō

Latin accūsō

Proto-Indo-European *-tōr

Proto-Italic *-tōr

Latin -tor

Latin accūsātor

Proto-Indo-European *-yós

Proto-Italic *-ios

Old Latin -ios

Latin -ius

Latin accūsātōriusder.

Middle French accusatoriebor.

▲

Latin accūsātōriusbor.

Middle English accusatorie

English accusatory

From Middle English accusatorie, from Middle French accusatorie and its etymon Latin accūsātōrius. By surface analysis, accuse +‎ -atory.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /əˈkju.zəˌtɔɹ.i/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Adjective

accusatory (comparative more accusatory, superlative most accusatory)

1. Pertaining to, or containing, an accusation. [from the early 17th c.]
   • 1846-1856, George Grote, A History of Greece:

     This conclusion will certainly be strengthened by reading the accusatory speech composed by Deinarchus […]

   • 2009 February 18, Janet Maslin, “Racial Insults and Quiet Bravery in 1960s Mississippi”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     Had she heard the same Bob Dylan singing “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll,” his accusatory song about the fatal caning of a 51-year-old black barmaid by a young white patrician, “The Help” might have ventured outside its harsh yet still comfortable, reader-friendly world.

Derived terms

• accusatorily
• nonaccusatory
• unaccusatory

Translations

pertaining to, or containing, an accusation

• Breton: tamallus
• Bulgarian: обвинителен (bg) (obvinitelen), обвиняващ (bg) (obvinjavašt)
• Catalan: acusatori
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 指責型 / 指责型 (zhǐzéxíng), 非難的 / 非难的 (fēinàn de), 指控的 (zhǐkòng de)

• Czech: žalující, obviňující, vyčítavý
• Dutch: beschuldigend (nl)
• Esperanto: kulpiga, akuza
• Finnish: syyttävä (fi)
• French: accusateur (fr)
• German: anklagend (de), anklägerisch
• Greek: κατηγορητικός (el) (katigoritikós)
• Hungarian: vádló (hu), vádoló (hu)
• Ido: ^{(please verify)} akuzala (io), ^{(please verify)} akuzanta (io), ^{(please verify)} akuziva (io)
• Italian: accusatorio
• Japanese: 非難の (ja) (ひなんの, hinan no), 批難の (ja) (ひなんの, hinan no)
• Latin: accūsātōrius, crīminōsus
• Portuguese: acusatório
• Romanian: acuzatoriu
• Russian: обвини́тельный (ru) (obvinítelʹnyj)
• Spanish: acusatorio (es)

Further reading

• “accusatory”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “accusatory”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.