a defendant in a criminal proceeding
"The accused stood silently before the judge as he was read his rights during the preliminary hearing."
The person charged with an offense; the defendant in a criminal case.
"The accused stood nervously before the judge during the preliminary hearing."
In plain English: An accused is someone who has been charged with committing a crime but hasn't yet proven their guilt in court.
"The accused stood nervously while waiting to hear his case in court."
Usage: Use this noun to refer specifically to the individual formally charged or named as the defendant in a legal proceeding, rather than someone merely suspected without charges. It is often confused with "defendant," though they are interchangeable when referring to the person on trial after being accused.
simple past tense and past participle of accuse
"The detective accused him of stealing the money last night."
In plain English: To accuse someone is to say they did something wrong without proving it yet.
"The neighbors accused him of stealing their garden gnomes."
Having been accused; being the target of accusations.
"The defendant stood nervously as he was accused of stealing money from the register."
In plain English: Accused means being blamed for doing something wrong even though you haven't been proven guilty yet.
"The accused driver was questioned by police at the scene."
The word accused comes from the verb accuse, meaning to blame, with the addition of the past tense marker -ed. It first appeared in written English during the 1590s.