accusatorial

Accusatorial is used to describe people to imply that they are making an accusation—a claim that someone is guilty of a crime or offense.

It can also mean implying blame or strong criticism.

The similar word accusatory can be used interchangeably. But whereas accusatorial is perhaps more often applied to people, accusatory is commonly used to describe things that contain or suggest an accusation. An accusatory statement is usually one that directly claims that someone did something wrong. When someone says something in an accusatory tone, it suggests that they are accusing someone of something—even if the statement doesn’t contain a direct accusation.

Example: I don’t mean to be accusatorial—I was just making an observation.

The first records of the word accusatorial in English come from around the 1800s. Its base word, accuse, ultimately derives from the Latin accūsāre, meaning “to call to account,” from causa, “lawsuit.”

When you make an accusation, you are being accusatorial. The word is often used in a way that criticizes a person for doing so, such as when they don’t have anything to back up their accusation. An accusatory statement contains an accusation or it implies blame for something. The word accusation is often used in a legal context, and the word accusatorial can be used in this way or in everyday conversation.

What are some other forms related to accusatorial?

• accusatorially (adverb)
• accuse (verb)

What are some synonyms for accusatorial?

• accusatory
• accusing

What are some words that share a root or word element with accusatorial? 

• accusation
• accuser
• cause

What are some words that often get used in discussing accusatorial?

• statement
• tone
• claim
• crime
• wrongdoing
• offense
• mistake
• allege
• charge

Accusatorial is usually used to describe people making accusations, but it can also be used to describe the things people say and the way they say them.

Heard that from someone, want to know if others picked up on it. Not being accusatorial, we all make mistakes, just curious

— John Strong (@JohnStrong) March 8, 2012

Anyone who works in this office will confirm that I can say "charlie-uniform-november-lima-inda-foxtrot-foxtrot-echo" as one word in 2 seconds flat. Cue an accusatorial over-the-phone "you've spelt that out before". As if I practise it on purpose.

— Rachel Cunliffe (@RMCunliffe) August 30, 2018

Nope. It just explains the classification system used when people call it ‘probably carcinogenic’.

If some people get all accusatorial when scientists explain the terms they are using, one does have to wonder why?

— James Wong (@Botanygeek) October 1, 2019

Is accusatorial used correctly in the following sentence?

Most of the people responding to the post are being accusatorial instead of trying to be constructive.