What's the difference between accuse and acquit?

Accuse


Definition:

  • (n.) Accusation.
  • (v. t.) To charge with, or declare to have committed, a crime or offense
  • (v. t.) to charge with an offense, judicially or by a public process; -- with of; as, to accuse one of a high crime or misdemeanor.
  • (v. t.) To charge with a fault; to blame; to censure.
  • (v. t.) To betray; to show. [L.]

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The judge, Mr Justice John Royce, told George she was "cold" and "calculating", as further disturbing details of her relationship with the co-accused, Colin Blanchard and Angela Allen, emerged.
  • (2) Some international coverage of the outbreak was accused of misinforming western readers.
  • (3) Photograph: Guardian The research also compiled data covered by a wider definition of tax haven, including onshore jurisdictions such as the US state of Delaware – accused by the Cayman islands of playing "faster and looser" even than offshore jurisdictions – and the Republic of Ireland, which has come under sustained pressure from other EU states to reform its own low-tax, light-tough, regulatory environment.
  • (4) Faisal Abu Shahla, a senior official in Fatah, an organisation responsible for a good deal of repression of its own when it was in power, accuses Hamas of holding 700 political prisoners in Gaza as part of a broad campaign to suppress dissent.
  • (5) The charges against Harrison were filed just after two white men were accused of fatally shooting three black people in Tulsa in what prosecutors said were racially motivated attacks.
  • (6) Defence lawyers suggested this week that Anwar's accuser was a "compulsive and consummate liar" who may have been put up to it.
  • (7) Meanwhile, Hunt has been accused of backtracking on a key recommendation in the official report into Mid Staffs.
  • (8) She has been accused of being responsible for rape, sexual slavery, and prostitution itself.
  • (9) We repeat our call for them to do so at the earliest opportunity, and to share those findings so that we can take any appropriate actions.” In the BBC programme the 29-year-old Rupp, who won 10,000m silver at the London 2012 Olympics behind Farah, was accused of having taken testosterone and being a regular user of the asthma drug prednisone, which is banned in competition.
  • (10) David Cameron was accused of revealing his ill-suppressed Bullingdon Club instincts when he shouted at the Labour frontbencher Angela Eagle to "calm down, dear" as she berated him for misleading MPs at prime minister's questions.
  • (11) Certainly not ones with young children accused of non-violent crimes.
  • (12) Analysis of official registers reveals the 38 companies in the first wave of the initiative – more than two-thirds of which are based overseas – have collectively had 698 face-to-face meetings with ministers under the current government, prompting accusations of an over-cosy relationship between corporations and ministers.
  • (13) I never accuse a student of plagiarizing unless I have proof, almost always in the form of sources easily found by Googling a few choice phrases.
  • (14) And any Labour commitment on spending is fatally undermined by their deficit amnesia.” Davey widened the attack on the Tories, following a public row this week between Clegg and Theresa May over the “snooper’s charter”, by accusing his cabinet colleague Eric Pickles of coming close to abusing his powers by blocking new onshore developments against the wishes of some local councils.
  • (15) He said he was appalled by the player's accusations and plans to meet with Martin on Wednesday at an undisclosed location.
  • (16) For a union that, in less than 25 years, has had to cope with the end of the cold war, the expansion from 12 to 28 members, the struggle to create a single currency and, most recently, the eurozone crisis, such a claim risks accusations of hyperbole.
  • (17) Fred Goodwin was an accountant and no one ever accused the former chief executive of RBS of consuming mind-alterating substances – unless you count over-inhaling his own ego.
  • (18) His words earned a stinging rebuke from first lady Michelle Obama , but at a Friday rally in North Carolina he said of one accuser, Jessica Leeds: “Yeah, I’m gonna go after you.
  • (19) The Iranians have accused the Israelis and the US of designing and deploying Stuxnet, which set some of their centrifuges spinning out of control.
  • (20) Does parliamentary privilege really mean that the four accused should not face trial?

Acquit


Definition:

  • (p. p.) Acquitted; set free; rid of.
  • (v. t.) To discharge, as a claim or debt; to clear off; to pay off; to requite.
  • (v. t.) To pay for; to atone for.
  • (v. t.) To set free, release or discharge from an obligation, duty, liability, burden, or from an accusation or charge; -- now followed by of before the charge, formerly by from; as, the jury acquitted the prisoner; we acquit a man of evil intentions.
  • (v. t.) To clear one's self.
  • (v. t.) To bear or conduct one's self; to perform one's part; as, the soldier acquitted himself well in battle; the orator acquitted himself very poorly.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) He was, however, acquitted of criminal charges over this.
  • (2) Several top police commanders were acquitted, and Mubarak and his sons were found not guilty of corruption charges.
  • (3) An MRF sergeant was acquitted of attempted murder following a trial in 1973.
  • (4) She was then tried and acquitted on phone-hacking charges in 2014, leaving her to work out how to restart her career.
  • (5) 9 January 2012: Anwar is acquitted of sodomy charges.
  • (6) He was acquitted of assault by beating after a four-day trial in which his alleged victim, protester Nicola Fisher, declined to give evidence.
  • (7) After the murder he replaced Morgan at Southern Investigations to work alongside Jonathan Rees, who was tried for the murder and acquitted.
  • (8) While he was acquitted of rape, his remark that he took a shower after having sex with an HIV-positive woman to minimise the risk of infection caused fury.
  • (9) Francis Dixon, 38, from Stalybridge, was acquitted of the murder of David Short, the attempted murder of Hark and causing an explosion with a hand grenade.
  • (10) Colonel Jorge Mendonca was acquitted of failing to ensure that his men did not mistreat prisoners who were being held at a British detention centre in Basra, southern Iraq .
  • (11) In 2005 Mallah was acquitted of two terrorism offences but pleaded guilty to threatening to kill Asio officials.
  • (12) It’s about why this government chose to not upgrade Don Dale and to throw children in a derelict male prison.” Lawrence said the problems of juveniles in NT prisons had to be addressed “by a system that’s properly resourced, providing nothing less than best practice which is acquitted by fully qualified and professionally trained staff, creating appropriate behavioural programs and education for adolescent offenders of various types and backgrounds”.
  • (13) The 58-year-old, who recently served a four-month ban by the Football League for failing to pay tax on a yacht, was acquitted of customs offences on the Range Rover, which had been imported from the United States.
  • (14) Two recent high-profile cases have made the headlines: a doctor accused of administering drugs that hastened the deaths of seven elderly patients was acquitted, and France's high court authorised doctors to stop treating and feeding a young man who had been in a vegetative state on life support for six years.
  • (15) An inquest last year ruled that Harwood unlawfully killed him, but a trial jury acquitted the officer of manslaughter in July.
  • (16) If the various Ivan Milat murders had been tried individually he would almost certainly have been acquitted.
  • (17) Two years ago, Olmert was acquitted of separate corruption charges relating to his dealings with a US businessman, which had forced his resignation as prime minister in 2008.
  • (18) However, Azmi and others said that a series of terrorist cases in recent years in which Muslims had been suspected, investigated and often incarcerated for long periods before being acquitted had damaged trust in the police and, more broadly, the government.
  • (19) • This clarification was posted on 30 March 2011: An editing error in the footnote above wrongly suggested that all six men convicted, and later acquitted on appeal, of the Birmingham pub bombings were represented by Gareth Peirce.
  • (20) He directed them to acquit Payne of manslaughter and of intending to pervert the course of justice.