arraign
/ə'rein/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Verb (Transitive):
- To formally accuse someone of a crime and bring them before a court to answer the charge: The legal process of calling a defendant to court to hear the charges against them and to enter a plea.
- To call to account; to criticize or find fault with publicly: To question or challenge the validity, adequacy, or conduct of a person, idea, or action.
Examples of Usage
Legal Context:
- The suspect will be arraigned in court tomorrow morning.
- After the grand jury indictment, the defendant was arraigned on charges of fraud.
General/Critical Context:
- The opposition leader arraigned the government's new policy before the assembly.
- His book arraigns the media for its sensationalist reporting.
Advanced Usage
"to arraign someone for something": To formally charge someone with a specific crime.
- He was arraigned for embezzlement and conspiracy.
"to arraign someone on a charge/indictment": The formal legal phrasing for bringing charges.
- She was arraigned on a charge of perjury.
Variants and Related Words
- Arraignment (n): The legal act or process of arraigning; the court proceeding where charges are read and a plea is entered.
- The arraignment lasted only fifteen minutes.
Synonyms
- Indict: To formally accuse of or charge with a serious crime.
- Charge: To accuse someone of an offense, especially formally.
- Censure: To express severe disapproval, typically in a formal statement.
- Impeach: To charge (a public official) with misconduct; or more generally, to challenge the validity or integrity of.
Related Phrases
- To be brought to the bar: A formal expression meaning to be brought before a court for trial or arraignment.
- To take to task: An idiom meaning to reprimand or criticize someone (similar to the second meaning of "arraign").
- The manager took him to task for his careless mistake.
Verb
- accuse of a wrong or an inadequacy
- call before a court to answer an indictment