What's the difference between accuse and complain?

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?

Complain


Definition:

  • (v. i.) To give utterance to expression of grief, pain, censure, regret. etc.; to lament; to murmur; to find fault; -- commonly used with of. Also, to creak or squeak, as a timber or wheel.
  • (v. i.) To make a formal accusation; to make a charge.
  • (v. t.) To lament; to bewail.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) In the ketamine group, 36% of the patients complained of unpleasant dreams.
  • (2) Sewel is also recorded complaining about the level of appearance allowances at the House of Lords .
  • (3) A case is presented of a 35-year-old woman who was brought to the emergency service by ambulance complaining of vomiting for 7 days and that she could not hear well because she was 'worn out'.
  • (4) Because they generally have to be positioned on hills to get the maximum benefits of the wind, some complain that they ruin the landscape.
  • (5) The matter is now in the hands of the Guernsey police and the law officers.” One resident who is a constant target of the paper and has complained to police, Rosie Guille, said the allegations had a “huge impact on morale” on the island.
  • (6) Unions have complained about the process for Chinese-backed companies to bring overseas workers to Australia for projects worth at least $150m, because the memorandum of understanding says “there will be no requirement for labour market testing” to enter into an investment facilitation arrangements (IFA).
  • (7) The degree of discomfort was slightly greater in women who complained of breast tenderness within three days prior to the mammogram but was not strongly related to age, menstrual status, or week of the menstrual cycle.
  • (8) Lofgren complains that " the crackpot outliers of two decades ago have become the vital centre today ".
  • (9) TGI was present in high titres in all five patients who complained about recurrent goitre.
  • (10) Hyperprolactinemia, hypogonadotropinism, and subnormal plasma testosterone were found in a 65-year-old patient who had an enlarged sella turcica, complained of fatigue, and addmitted to decreased sexual interest and potency.
  • (11) Fairly frequently the patients complained about mucosal dryness and sporadically about dyspeptic symptoms, but these symptoms were not disturbing the course of the treatment.
  • (12) A forty-four-year-old woman with Takayasu's arteritis and involvement of the aortic arch and its main branches complained of precordial pain on effort.
  • (13) The £1m fine, proposed during the Leveson inquiry into press standards, was designed to demonstrate how seriously the industry was taking lessons learned after the failure of the Press Complains Commission tto investigate phone hacking at the News of the World.
  • (14) That was what the earlier debate over “currency wars” – when emerging markets complained about being inundated by financial inflows from the US – was all about.
  • (15) These results are likely to underestimate the true number of complaints because participants may be withdrawn (e.g., deaths, losses to follow-up, and refusals) before they ever complain of an adverse effect.
  • (16) Hysterography and hysteroscopy have been compared in the diagnosis of endouterine benign pathology, in a group of 50 patients, complaining meno-metrorrhagia, sterility, infertility or amenorrhea.
  • (17) A 55-year-old Japanese man was admitted to our hospital in January 1985 complaining of epigastralgia.
  • (18) Israel has complained in recent weeks of an increase in stone throwing and molotov cocktail attacks on West Bank roads and in areas adjoining mainly Palestinian areas of Jerusalem, where an elderly motorist died after crashing his car during an alleged stoning attack.
  • (19) The force said reports from its directorate of professional standards (DPS) were not routinely disclosed to complainants or outsiders.
  • (20) Although 41% of the participants complained of dry mouth, neither serious adverse effects nor evidence of medication abuse appeared.