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Decry vs Accuse - What's the difference?

decry | accuse |

In transitive terms the difference between decry and accuse

is that decry is to blame for ills while accuse is to charge with having committed a crime or offence.

As a noun accuse is

an accusation.

decry

English

Verb

(en-verb)
  • To denounce as harmful.
  • * 1970 , Alvin Toffler, Future Shock'', ''Bantam Books , pg. 99:
  • All of us seem to need some totalistic relationships in our lives. But to decry the fact that we cannot have only such relationships is nonsense.
  • * 1970 , Alvin Toffler, Future Shock'', ''Bantam Books , pg. 474:
  • While decrying bureaucracy and demanding participatory democracy they, themselves, frequently attempt to manipulate the very group of workers, blacks or students on whose behalf they demand participation.
  • To blame for ills.
  • References

    * Chambers's Etymological Dictionary , 1896, p. 114 * * *

    Anagrams

    *

    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)