indict
Americanverb (used with object)
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Law. (of a grand jury) to bring a formal accusation against (someone) as a means of bringing a case to trial after ascertaining that there is enough evidence.
The grand jury indicted him for murder.
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to charge with an offense or crime; accuse of wrongdoing; incriminate; condemn.
He tends to indict everyone of plotting against him.
verb
Usage
What does indict mean? To indict someone is to officially charge them with a crime that will be the subject of a criminal trial.Indicting a suspect is the final step in the evidence-gathering process before a person is put on trial for a serious crime, especially a felony. The official announcement of this accusation is called an indictment. In the U.S., such indictments are presented by a grand jury—the group of people responsible for determining whether there is enough evidence of a crime for a suspect to be put on trial.Indict can also be used in a more general way, outside of a legal context, to mean to accuse or strongly criticize, or to reveal something as being deserving of criticism. The noun indictment can also be used in this more general sense.Example: The suspect has been indicted for armed robbery and will face trial next month.
Other Word Forms
- indictee noun
- indicter noun
- indictor noun
- reindict verb (used with object)
Etymology
Origin of indict
First recorded in 1620–30; variant spelling (from Medieval Latin ) of indite
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Federal prosecutors soon indicted the women on charges of conspiracy and disclosing the personal information of a federal agent, which is effectively a federal anti-doxing statute.
From Los Angeles Times
Israeli authorities this month indicted a reservist and a civilian with charges related to using classified intelligence to place bets on Polymarket, a leading prediction market.
Chen, who had been indicted in October by US authorities, served as an adviser to both Hun Manet and his father.
From Barron's
The US Department of Justice had indicted a large number of top executives and it needed root-and-branch reform.
From BBC
The three are among 25 suspects indicted in Sri Lanka's High Court.
From Barron's
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
