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• charge
  charge

  verb (used with object)

  to impose or ask as a price or fee.
• chargé
  chargé

  noun

  a chargé d'affaires.

charge

¹ American  

[chahrj] / tʃɑrdʒ /

verb (used with object)

• charges,
  present (3rd person singular)
• charged,
  past participle,  past
• charging
  present participle

1. to impose or ask as a price or fee.

   That store charges $25 for leather gloves.

2. to impose on or ask of (someone) a price or fee.

   He didn't charge me for it.

3. to defer payment for (a purchase) until a bill is rendered by the creditor.

   The store let me charge the coat.

4. to hold liable for payment; enter a debit against.

5. to attack by rushing violently against.

   The cavalry charged the enemy.

   Synonyms:

   assault

6. to accuse formally or explicitly (usually followed bywith ).

   They charged him with theft.

   Synonyms:

   impeach, arraign, indict

   Antonyms:

   absolve, acquit

7. to impute; ascribe the responsibility for.

   He charged the accident to his own carelessness.

8. to instruct authoritatively, as a judge does a jury.

9. to lay a command or injunction upon.

   He charged his secretary with the management of his correspondence.

   Synonyms:

   order, require, bid, urge, exhort, enjoin

10. to fill or furnish (a thing) with the quantity, as of powder or fuel, that it is fitted to receive.

    to charge a musket.

11. to supply with a quantity of electric charge or electrical energy.

    to charge a storage battery.

12. to change the net amount of positive or negative electric charge of (a particle, body, or system).

13. to suffuse, as with emotion.

    The air was charged with excitement.

14. to fill (air, water, etc.) with other matter in a state of diffusion or solution.

    The air was charged with pollen.

15. Metallurgy. to load (materials) into a furnace, converter, etc.

16. to load or burden (the mind, heart, etc.).

    His mind was charged with weighty matters.

17. to put a load or burden on or in.

18. to record the loan of, as books or other materials from a library (often followed byout ).

    The librarian will charge those books at the front desk.

19. to borrow, as books or other materials from a library (often followed byout ).

    How many magazines may I charge at one time?

20. Heraldry. to place charges on (an escutcheon).

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verb (used without object)

• charges,
  present (3rd person singular)
• charged,
  past participle,  past
• charging
  present participle

1. to make an onset; rush, as to an attack.

2. to place the price of a thing to one's debit.

3. to require payment.

   to charge for a service.

4. to make a debit, as in an account.

5. (of dogs) to lie down at command.

noun

• charges
  plural

1. expense or cost.

   improvements made at a tenant's own charge.

2. a fee or price charged.

   a charge of three dollars for admission.

3. a pecuniary burden, encumbrance, tax, or lien; cost; expense; liability to pay.

   After his death there were many charges on his estate.

4. an entry in an account of something due.

5. an impetuous onset or attack, as of soldiers.

   Synonyms:

   assault, onslaught

6. a signal by bugle, drum, etc., for a military charge.

7. a duty or responsibility laid upon or entrusted to one.

   Synonyms:

   trust, commission

8. care, custody, or superintendence.

   The child was placed in her nurse's charge.

   Synonyms:

   management

9. anything or anybody committed to one's care or management.

   The nurse was careful to let no harm come to her charge.

10. Ecclesiastical. a parish or congregation committed to the spiritual care of a pastor.

11. a command or injunction; exhortation.

12. an accusation.

    He was arrested on a charge of theft.

    Synonyms:

    allegation, imputation, indictment

13. Law. an address by a judge to a jury at the close of a trial, instructing it as to the legal points, the weight of evidence, etc., affecting the verdict in the case.

14. the quantity of anything that an apparatus is fitted to hold, or holds, at one time.

    a charge of coal for a furnace.

15. a quantity of explosive to be set off at one time.

16. Electricity.

    1. electric charge.

    2. the process of charging a storage battery.

17. Slang. a thrill; kick.

18. Rocketry. grains of a solid propellant, usually including an inhibitor.

19. a load or burden.

    Synonyms:

    freight, cargo

20. Heraldry. any distinctive mark upon an escutcheon, as an ordinary or device, not considered as belonging to the field; bearing.

verb phrase

1. charge off

   1. to write off as an expense or loss.

   2. to attribute to.

      I charged off the blunder to inexperience.

2. charge up

   1. to agitate, stimulate, or excite.

      a fiery speaker who can charge up an audience.

   2. to put or be under the influence of narcotic drugs.

idioms

1. in charge of,

   1. having the care or supervision of.

      She is in charge of two libraries.

   2. Also in the charge of. under the care or supervision of.

      The books are in the charge of the accounting office.

2. in charge,

   1. in command; having supervisory power.

   2. British. under arrest; in or into the custody of the police.

chargé ² American  

[shahr-zhey, shahr-zhey, shar-zhey] / ʃɑrˈʒeɪ, ˈʃɑr ʒeɪ, ʃarˈʒeɪ /

noun

• chargés
  plural

1. a chargé d'affaires.

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charge British  

/ tʃɑːdʒ /

verb

1. to set or demand (a price)

   he charges too much for his services

2. (tr) to hold financially liable; enter a debit against

3. (tr) to enter or record as an obligation against a person or his account

4. (tr) to accuse or impute a fault to (a person, etc), as formally in a court of law

5. (tr) to command; place a burden upon or assign responsibility to

   I was charged to take the message to headquarters

6. to make a rush at or sudden attack upon (a person or thing)

7. (tr) to fill (a receptacle) with the proper or appropriate quantity

8. (often foll by up) to cause (an accumulator, capacitor, etc) to take or store electricity or (of an accumulator) to have electricity fed into it

9. to fill or suffuse or to be filled or suffused with matter by dispersion, solution, or absorption

   to charge water with carbon dioxide

10. (tr) to fill or suffuse with feeling, emotion, etc

    the atmosphere was charged with excitement

11. (tr) law (of a judge) to address (a jury) authoritatively

12. (tr) to load (a firearm)

13. (tr) to aim (a weapon) in position ready for use

14. (tr) heraldry to paint (a shield, banner, etc) with a charge

15. (intr) (of hunting dogs) to lie down at command

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noun

1. a price charged for some article or service; cost

2. a financial liability, such as a tax

3. a debt or a book entry recording it

4. an accusation or allegation, such as a formal accusation of a crime in law

5. 1. an onrush, attack, or assault

   2. the call to such an attack in battle

6. custody or guardianship

7. a person or thing committed to someone's care

8. 1. a cartridge or shell

   2. the explosive required to discharge a firearm or other weapon

   3. an amount of explosive material to be detonated at any one time

9. the quantity of anything that a receptacle is intended to hold

10. physics

    1. the attribute of matter by which it responds to electromagnetic forces responsible for all electrical phenomena, existing in two forms to which the signs negative and positive are arbitrarily assigned

    2. a similar property of a body or system determined by the extent to which it contains an excess or deficiency of electrons

    3. a quantity of electricity determined by the product of an electric current and the time for which it flows, measured in coulombs

    4. the total amount of electricity stored in a capacitor

    5.  q.   Q.  the total amount of electricity held in an accumulator, usually measured in ampere-hours

11. a load or burden

12. a duty or responsibility; control

13. a command, injunction, or order

14. slang a thrill

15. law the address made by a judge to the jury at the conclusion of the evidence

16. heraldry a design, device, or image depicted on heraldic arms

    a charge of three lions

17. the solid propellant used in rockets, sometimes including the inhibitor

18. in command

19. 1. having responsibility for

    2. under the care of

charge Scientific  

/ chärj /

1. A fundamental property of the elementary particles of which matter is made that gives rise to attractive and repulsive forces. There are two kinds of charge: color charge and electric charge.

2. See more at color charge electric charge

3. The amount of electric charge contained in an object, particle, or region of space.

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charge More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing charge

• carrying charge
• get a bang (charge) out of
• in charge
• in charge of
• take charge

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Synonym Usage

See price.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• chargeless
  adjective
• self-charging
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• charges
  plural
• chargés
  plural

Participles

• charging
  present
• charged
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• charge
  simple
• charges
  simple
• have charged
  perfect
• has charged
  perfect
• am charging
  progressive
• are charging
  progressive
• is charging
  progressive
• have been charging
  perfect progressive
• has been charging
  perfect progressive

Past

• charged
  simple
• had charged
  perfect
• was charging
  progressive
• were charging
  progressive
• had been charging
  perfect progressive

Future

• will charge
  simple
• will have charged
  perfect
• will be charging
  progressive
• will have been charging
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of charge¹

First recorded in 1175–1225; 1950–55 charge for def. 39; (verb) Middle English chargen, from Anglo-French, Old French charg(i)er, from Late Latin carricāre “to load a wagon,” equivalent to carr(us) “wagon” ( see car ¹) + -icā- verb suffix. + -re infinitive ending; (noun) Middle English, from Anglo-French, Old French, noun derivative of the verb

Origin of chargé²

By shortening

Explanation

Charge can mean electricity received, as in the shock you’d feel if you put your finger in a wall socket. Charge is also what you do when you use your credit card instead of cash. Shopping can be electrifying too. Charge has many meanings. Charge is what a cavalry does when it rushes towards enemy lines. A charge is also the cost of something. When you are “in charge,” it means that you are in command of everything. And when you are “in charge of,” it means that you have a specific responsibility. And when you are excited about something, you “get a charge out of it.” If you like power, you might get a charge out of being in charge.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

charge chargé charges chargés charged charging

The organization has tripled sign-on bonuses to $6,000 and enlisted employment agencies that charge a premium to provide personnel, he said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026

The results provide experimental evidence for flexoelectricity, an effect in which uneven bending causes a material to develop an electric charge.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 17, 2026

Alonso offered a glimpse of the 3-4-2-1 formation he could use at Fulham in nine days as he took charge of a match at Stamford Bridge for the first time.

From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026

Once elevated to his new posts, Salisbury took charge of carrying out the second Trump administration’s agenda for HSI, personally issuing staffing directives, reassignments and promotions, current and former agency officials told ProPublica.

From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026

Forest Engineer and Safety Officer Jim Rombach was in charge of making plans to keep the loggers safe in the event of a big eruption.

From "Mountain of Fire" by Rebecca E. F. Barone

As Petro was traveling to Washington, Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela’s interim president, met with U.S. chargé d’affaires Laura Dogu to talk about the future.

From Salon ● Feb. 5, 2026

She takes over from John McNamara, who had served as chargé d’affaires since February 2025 and traveled to Venezuela in January to discuss the potential reopening of the embassy.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 4, 2026

Seidman was appointed chargé d'affaires at Israel's embassy in South Africa last year and his role also extends to the neighbouring countries of Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mauritius and Namibia.

From BBC ● Jan. 30, 2026

On Thursday, the U.S. named Laura F. Dogu, a former ambassador to Honduras and Nicaragua, as the new chargé d’affaires for the State Department’s Venezuela Affairs Unit, which is based in Bogotá, Colombia.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 22, 2026

The writer of it describes himself as "late chargé d'affaires of the United States to the Republics of Central America."

From The International Monthly, Volume 5, No. 4, April, 1852 by Various

Polarization refers to the separation of positive and negative electrical charges inside a material.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 17, 2026

"If charges are limited to large merchants or high-value transactions, the risk to mass adoption is likely lower," Motheram says.

From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026

His government also faces charges of narrowing the space for dissent.

From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026

In the past, it was uncommon for federal prosecutors to pursue charges against noncitizen voters who didn’t understand that it was against the law for them to vote.

From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026

Ellsberg’s and Russo’s lawyers again pressed Byrne to throw out the charges.

From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin

He said France and other EU countries are thinking about “having a common site to several European countries where our ambassadors or chargés d’affaires can be present” in Afghanistan.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 4, 2021

In some countries, high-ranking government officials will not meet with anyone short of a formal U.S. ambassador, shunning the chargés d’affaires who have taken over in the interim.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 27, 2021

Notwithstanding the explicit language of this act, claims for outfits and salaries have been made—and allowed at the Treasury—by chargés d'affaires and secretaries of legation who had not been appointed in the manner specified.

From A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents Volume 2, part 3: Andrew Jackson, 1st term by James D. (James Daniel) Richardson

Ministers and chargés d'affaires retire in case of hostilities, but consuls are permitted to remain to watch the interests of their countrymen.

From The Sailor's Word-Book An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc. by Sir Edward Belcher

Almost all the European countries are represented in the Dominican Republic either by ministers, chargés d'affaires or consuls.

From Santo Domingo A Country with a Future by Otto Schoenrich

Neither Walter nor his companies have been charged with any crimes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026

The judge asked: "Just spoken to? Was he charged with anything?"

From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026

Even fewer — 41 — were charged with voting illegally or other election-related crimes.

From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026

Mangione’s lawyers argue that charged offenses all related to the same act.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

This time the Treasury charged a lot for the loans and took most of the equity.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

Burberry’s boss, an American who previously worked at Coach, is also starting to see results from charging reasonable prices.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026

Imagine being a quarterback and seeing Eboigbodin charging ahead with his size and agility.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026

"I tried online chat, email and even the phone at one point as they were constantly charging me," he says.

From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026

In 2008, when Sallie Mae first started tabulating costs, institutions like NYU and Harvard were charging upward of $50,000 on their brochures, while public schools and two-year programs were charging proportionally less.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026

Petey reactivated the traps surrounding Otto, charging the air with static electricity that raised the hairs on Otto’s neck and arms.

From "The Last Last-Day-of-Summer" by Lamar Giles