indict
/ɪnˈdaɪt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.85 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To make a formal accusation or indictment for a crime against (a party) by the findings of a jury, especially a grand jury.
Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "a book that indicts modern values"
- "Co-writer Jonathan Keasey has said the film will aim to indict “our nonstop, 24-7 media cycle that convicts and ruins the lives of so many people without any due process”."
- "his former manager was indicted for fraud"
- "Having been indicted by the U.S. government for violating the anti-Serbian sanctions, Bobby blamed Jews and the N.Y. Times, "which is controlled by rich Jews.""
- "“Now, let’s consider what our competition did in the same six-week period,” wrote Betsy Ankney, Haley’s campaign manager. “Donald Trump had a good Q1, if you count being indicted as ‘good.'""
Etymology
From Middle English enditen, endyten (“to accuse”), from Old French enditer (“to dictate, indite”), from Late Latin indictāre, frequentative of Latin indicere (“to proclaim”), from in- + dicere (“to say”), or from in- + dictāre (“to say often, to dictate”). Doublet of indite. The irregular spelling is due to the word having been borrowed into Middle English from Old French, and not from Latin as was the case with most other descendants of dictāre (but see dight). The borrowed /iː/ regularly shifted to /aɪ/ in the course of the Great Vowel Shift; the ⟨c⟩ represents a later attempt at graphic Latinisation.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *deyḱ-, enditen, enditer, indictō
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɪnˈdaɪt/
- British English: /ɪnˈdaɪt/