Definition of “charge” - English Dictionary

English
Contents

“charge” in English

See all translations

chargeverb

uk ​ /tʃɑːdʒ/ us ​ /tʃɑːrdʒ/

charge verb (MONEY)

B1 [ T or I ] to ask an amount of money for something, especially a service or activity:

How much/What do you charge for a haircut and blow-dry?
The bank charged commission to change my traveller's cheques.
[ + two objects ] They charge you $20 just to get in the nightclub.
The local museum doesn't charge for admission.
charge sth to sb's account

› to record an amount that a customer has spent for them to pay at a later time, according to an agreement between a business and the customer:

Charge the bill to my account, please.
Shall we charge the flowers to your account?

More examples

Thesaurus: synonyms and related words

charge verb (ACCUSE FORMALLY)

B2 [ T ] (of the police) to make a formal statement saying that someone is accused of a crime:

She's been charged with murder.
She is charged with murdering her husband.

› formal to publicly accuse someone of doing something bad:

The paper charged her with using the company's money for her own purposes.

More examples

Thesaurus: synonyms and related words

charge verb (MOVE FORWARD)

B2 [ I or T ] to move forward quickly and violently, especially towards something that has caused difficulty or anger:

The bull lowered its horns and charged.
The violence began when the police charged (at) a crowd of demonstrators.

› [ I + adv/prep ] informal to hurry from one place to another:

I've been charging about/around all day and I'm exhausted.
He came charging up the stairs to tell me the good news.

More examples

Thesaurus: synonyms and related words

charge verb (ORDER)

› [ T often passive ] formal to order someone to do something:

He was charged with taking care of the premises.

› [ T ] US specialized law When a judge charges a jury, he or she explains the details of the law to them.

Thesaurus: synonyms and related words

chargenoun

uk ​ /tʃɑːdʒ/ us ​ /tʃɑːrdʒ/

charge noun (MONEY)

B1 [ C or U ] the amount of money that you have to pay for something, especially for an activity or service:

Is there a charge for children or do they go free?
There's an admission charge of £5.
They fixed my watch free of charge.

More examples

Thesaurus: synonyms and related words

charge noun (FORMAL ACCUSATION)

C1 [ C ] specialized law 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.

› [ 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).

More examples

Thesaurus: synonyms and related words

charge noun (CONTROL)

in charge

B1 being the person who has control of or is responsible for someone or something:

Who will be in charge of the department when Sophie leaves?
I left Jack in charge of the suitcases while I went to get the tickets.

B2 [ U ] responsibility for controlling or caring for something:

Her ex-husband has charge of the children during the week and she has them at the weekend.
His boss asked him to take charge of the office for a few days while she was away.

› [ C ] old-fashioned a person, especially a child, who is in your care and who you are responsible for

Thesaurus: synonyms and related words

charge noun (ORDER)

› [ C ] formal an order to do something

(Definition of “charge” from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

“charge” in American English

See all translations

chargeverb

us ​ /tʃɑrdʒ/

charge verb (ASK FOR MONEY)

› [ I/T ] to ask for a price for something:

[ T ] I think they charge too much for football tickets.

charge verb (OWE)

› [ T ] to buy something and agree to pay for it later:

I didn’t have any cash, so I charged the food.

charge verb (ACCUSE)

› [ T ] to accuse someone of something, esp. to officially accuse someone of a crime:

He was charged with resisting arrest.

charge verb (MOVE FORWARD)

› [ I/T ] to move forward quickly, esp. to attack:

[ T ] When the batter was hit with the pitch, he dropped his bat and charged the pitcher.

charge verb (STORE ENERGY)

› [ I/T ] to put electrical energy into a storage device such as a battery :

[ I ] It takes several hours for my laptop’s batteries to charge.

charge verb (INSTRUCT)

› [ T ] law to instruct (the people deciding a legal case) what the law is in a particular case:

The judge charged the jury before deliberations began.

Idiom(s)

charged up
in charge (of something/someone)

chargenoun

us ​ /tʃɑrdʒ/

charge noun (CONTROL)

› [ U ] responsibility for the control of something or the care of someone:

Marilyn agreed to take charge of fundraising.

charge noun (EXPLOSIVE)

› [ C ] the amount of explosive to be fired at one time

charge noun (STORAGE OF ENERGY)

› [ C/U ] chemistry, physics the amount of electricity that an electrical device stores or carries

› [ C/U ] chemistry, physics A positive or negative electrical charge is a basic characteristic of matter.

(Definition of “charge” from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

“charge” in Business English

See all translations

chargeverb

uk ​ /tʃɑːdʒ/ us ​

› [ I or T ] COMMERCE, FINANCE to ask for a particular amount of money for something, especially a service or activity:

charge (sb) sth for sth How much will you charge us for shipping and handling?
They charged $200 for insurance.
charge (sb) for sth We do not charge you for this service.
charge a price/fee, etc. He considered that the price they were charging was fair.
The bank charges a commission to withdraw money from a foreign ATM.

› [ T ] to pay for something by credit card:

I don't have any cash - I'll charge it.
charge sth to sb's account

› if you charge something to someone's account , the amount they have spent is recorded and they pay for it at a later time:

Charge the bill to my account, please.

› [ T ] ACCOUNTING to record something as a cost in a financial account:

charge sth to sth The depreciation is charged to the profit and loss account.

› [ T ] LAW to make a formal statement saying that someone is accused of a crime:

charge sb with sth The property developer was charged with fraud.

› [ T ] to publicly accuse someone of having done something bad:

charge sb with sth The newspaper charged him with misleading the public about the seriousness of the situation.

› [ T, often passive ] to ask someone to do a particular job:

be charged with sth The committee has been charged with developing a new funding formula.

Phrasal verb(s)

charge off

chargenoun

uk ​ /tʃɑːdʒ/ us ​

› [ C or U ] COMMERCE, FINANCE the amount of money that you have to pay for something, especially for a service:

make/impose/incur a charge If you fail to cancel the booking within the specified period, you will incur a charge.
charge for sb/sth Is there a charge for children or do they go free?
small/nominal charge We make a nominal charge for this service.
high charges Small investors are put off by the high charges for this sort of account
There will be a one-off charge of £30.
Interest charges on an overdraft are usually quite high.
We will deliver to your home free of charge.

› [ C ] ACCOUNTING a cost that is recorded in a company's financial accounts:

take a charge for sth The company expects to take a charge for various expenses relating to the acquisition.
Depreciation is treated as a charge in the profit and loss account.

› [ C ] LAW, PROPERTY →  charge on assets :

a mortgage, or other charge against the property

› [ C ] LAW a formal statement accusing someone of committing a crime:

bring a charge against sb Charges were brought against the UK company under the Corporate Manslaughter and Homicide Act.
on a charge of sth She was arrested on a charge of fraud.
criminal charges
He was taken into custody but released without charge.

› [ C ] a statement that someone has done something bad:

He responded angrily to the charge that he had not acted in the best interests of the company.
in charge

› in control of or responsible for someone or something:

Who will be in charge of the department when Sophie leaves?
From now on, Steve is in charge.
leave sb in charge (of sth) He was on vacation and had left his deputy in charge.
put sb in charge (of sth) I put Jack in charge of making the travel arrangements.
take charge (of sth)

› to take control of something or of a group of people:

His boss asked him to take charge of the office for a few days while she was away.

See also

accrued charge
bank charge
capital charge
carrying charge
certificate of charge
cover charge
exit charge
finance charge
fixed charge
floating charge
handling charge
landing charge
management charge
restructuring charge
reverse-charge
sales charge
service charge
social charges
termination charge

(Definition of “charge” from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Help us add to the Cambridge Dictionary!

These examples are from external sources. Click on the icon to tell us if any are not OK.

charge

I am, moreover, very happy to continue to take an active part in the area of culture by taking charge, more specifically, of the audiovisual sector.
From Europarl Parallel Corpus - English
Administrative data must obviously be free of charge to the public and it has to be obtainable from one place, or portal.
From Europarl Parallel Corpus - English
Basic information must be free of charge.
From Europarl Parallel Corpus - English
In such a case it is only reasonable that the official body undertaking the specialist work should charge for services rendered in accordance with normal market economy legislation.
From Europarl Parallel Corpus - English
If it can always be seen who has obtained what, fraud will be revealed by journalists and a critical public - perfectly free of charge and with far greater preventative effect.
From Europarl Parallel Corpus - English
Secondly, as you know, there is a free access signal, which is totally free of charge, and another access signal, pre-paid, with services, codified, but which is also free.
From Europarl Parallel Corpus - English
The prerequisite was that access to the products of science, music, mathematics or of any other field should be free and without charge.
From Europarl Parallel Corpus - English
Operational risk is something that is not yet easily calibrated and we should be very cautious before we impose a large charge.
From Europarl Parallel Corpus - English
I believe that access to clean drinking water without charge is a basic human right in the developed as well as the developing world.
From Europarl Parallel Corpus - English
The common position established the right for the last owner to return a vehicle to a treatment facility free of charge.
From Europarl Parallel Corpus - English
Translations of “charge”
 
Need a translator?

Translator tool

Get a quick, free translation!

What is the pronunciation of charge?
Browse