charge

noun (FORMAL ACCUSATION)

/tʃɑːdʒ/

/tʃɑːrdʒ/

Definition

C1 [C] legal a formal police statement saying that someone is accused of a crime: The 19-year-old will be appearing in court on Thursday where she will face criminal charges. He has been arrested on a charge of murder. The police brought a charge of theft against him. The police have had to drop (= stop) charges against her because they couldn't find any evidence. He claimed he had been arrested on a trumped-up (= false) charge.Blaming and accusingArresting and charging › [C] formal the act of accusing someone of something bad: [+ that] The president responded angrily to the charge that she had lost touch with her country's people. Her refusal to condemn the violence laid/left her open to the charge of positive support for the campaign (= allowed people to say that she supported it).Blaming and accusing

(Definition of charge noun (FORMAL ACCUSATION) from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)