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Accuse vs Rebuke - What's the difference?

accuse | rebuke |

As verbs the difference between accuse and rebuke

is that accuse is to find fault with, to blame, to censure while rebuke is to criticise harshly; to reprove.

As nouns the difference between accuse and rebuke

is that accuse is an accusation while rebuke is a harsh criticism.

accuse

English

(Webster 1913)

Verb

(accus)
  • To find fault with, to blame, to censure.
  • * (rfdate) (Epistle to the Romans) 2:15,
  • Their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another.
  • * (rfdate) ,
  • We are accused of having persuaded Austria and Sardinia to lay down their arms.
  • To charge with having committed a crime or offence.
  • * (rfdate) (Acts of the Apostles) 24:13,
  • Neither can they prove the things whereof they now accuse me.
  • To make an accusation against someone.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-08, volume=407, issue=8839, page=55, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Obama goes troll-hunting , passage=According to this saga of intellectual-property misanthropy, these creatures [patent trolls] roam the business world, buying up patents and then using them to demand extravagant payouts from companies they accuse of infringing them. Often, their victims pay up rather than face the costs of a legal battle.}}

    Usage notes

    * (legal) When used this way accused is followed by the word of . * Synonym notes: To accuse , charge, impeach, arraign: these words agree in bringing home to a person the imputation of wrongdoing. ** To accuse'' is a somewhat formal act, and is applied usually (though not exclusively) to crimes; as, to ''accuse of treason. ** Charge'' is the most generic. It may refer to a crime, a dereliction of duty, a fault, etc.; more commonly it refers to moral delinquencies; as, to ''charge with dishonesty or falsehood. ** To arraign'' is to bring (a person) before a tribunal for trial; as, to ''arraign one before a court or at the bar public opinion. ** To impeach'' is officially to charge with misbehavior in office; as, to ''impeach a minister of high crimes. ** Both impeach'' and ''arraign convey the idea of peculiar dignity or impressiveness.

    Synonyms

    * (legal) charge, indict, impeach, arraign * () blame, censure, reproach, criminate

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) An accusation.
  • (Shakespeare)

    rebuke

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A harsh criticism.
  • * 2012 , July 15. Richard Williams in Guardian Unlimited, Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off track
  • There was the sternness of an old-fashioned Tour patron in his rebuke to the young Frenchman Pierre Rolland, the only one to ride away from the peloton and seize the opportunity for a lone attack before being absorbed back into the bunch, where he was received with coolness.

    Verb

    (rebuk)
  • To criticise harshly; to reprove.
  • Synonyms

    * See also