indictment

Alternative forms

endictment

Etymology

18th-century Latinized respelling of Middle English endytement (“action of accusing”), from Anglo-Norman enditement, from enditer, from Late Latin indictāre, from Latin indictus.

Pronunciation

(US) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈdaɪt.mənt/
Audio (US): (file)

Noun

indictment (countable and uncountable, plural indictments)

(law) An official formal accusation for a criminal offence, or the process by which it is brought to a jury. [from 14th c.]
(law) The official legal document outlining the charges concerned; bill of indictment. [from 16th c.]
- 2023 March 30, William K. Rashbaum, “This is what will happen when Trump is arrested in the coming days.”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:
  […] — the indictment will remain sealed until his expected arraignment on Tuesday, when the charges will be formally revealed.
(countable, uncountable) An accusation of wrongdoing; a criticism or condemnation. [from 19th c.]
- 1910, Emma Goldman, “Patriotism: A Menace to Liberty”, in Anarchism and Other Essays‎:
  Can there be a greater indictment against patriotism than that it will thus brand a man a criminal, throw him into prison, and rob him of the results of fifteen years of faithful service?
- 1980 March 10, Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn, “The Economy Drive”, in Yes, Minister, season 1, episode 3, spoken by Jim Hacker (Paul Eddington):
  I must say Humphrey, these facts are a frightening indictment of bureaucratic sloppiness and self-indulgence.
- 2023 July 26, Christian Wolmar, “Closing ticket offices to lead to 'catch-22' for passengers”, in RAIL, number 988, page 42:
  I have been critical of the RDG in the past for merely being a cypher for government announcements, but the failure of its members to make a stand on this issue and not be complicit in the Government's subterfuge is a shocking indictment of their failure to protect the industry.
Evidence of failure or poor performance.
an indictment of his ability to lead

an indictment of his game

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Translations

criminal accusation

Chinese:
Mandarin: 起訴 / 起诉 (zh) (qǐsù), 公訴 / 公诉 (zh) (gōngsù)
Czech: obžaloba f
Danish: tiltale c, anklage (da) c
Dutch: beschuldiging (nl)
Faroese: ákæra f
Finnish: syyte (fi), syytekirjelmä
French: inculpation (fr) f, mise en examen (fr) f
German: Anklage (de) f
Hindi: अभियोग (hi) m (abhiyog)
Hungarian: vádemelés (hu), vád alá helyezés
Indonesian: dakwaan (id)
Japanese: 起訴 (ja) (きそ, kiso)
Korean: 기소 (ko) (giso)
Latin: crīmen n
Macedonian: обвинителен акт m (obvinitelen akt)
Malay: indikmen
Norwegian: tilltale
Plautdietsch: Aunkloag f
Polish: akt oskarżenia (pl) m, oskarżenie (pl) n
Portuguese: indiciamento m
Russian: обвини́тельный акт m (obvinítelʹnyj akt), обвине́ние (ru) n (obvinénije)
Sicilian: accusa f
Slovak: obžaloba f
Spanish: formulación de cargos
Tagalog: sakdal
Turkish: itham (tr), suçlama (tr)
Welsh: ditiad m

bill of indictment

Bulgarian: обвинителен акт (obvinitelen akt)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 起訴狀 / 起诉状 (zh) (qǐsùzhuàng), 訴狀 / 诉状 (zh) (sùzhuàng), 公訴書 / 公诉书 (gōngsù shū)
Czech: žaloba f
Dutch: akte van beschuldiging m
French: acte d'accusation (fr) m
German: Anklageschrift (de) f
Hungarian: vádirat (hu)
Italian: atto d’accusa m
Polish: akt oskarżenia (pl) m
Slovak: žaloba f
Spanish: escrito de acusación m
Turkish: iddianame (tr), savca (tr)

accusation

Bulgarian: обвинение (bg) n (obvinenie)
Czech: obvinění (cs) n
Dutch: beschuldiging (nl)
Finnish: syyte (fi), syytös (fi)
German: Beschuldigung (de) f
Hungarian: vád (hu), gyanúsítás (hu), megvádolás (hu), vádolás (hu)
Polish: oskarżenie (pl) n
Russian: обвине́ние (ru) n (obvinénije)
Slovak: obvinenie
Spanish: acusación (es)
Swedish: anklagelse (sv)

indictment

English