indictment
Americannoun
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a formal written charge of crime formerly referred to and presented on oath by a grand jury
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any formal accusation of crime
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a charge of crime brought at the instance of the Lord Advocate
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the act of indicting or the state of being indicted
Usage
What does indictment mean? An indictment is an official accusation stating that a person is being charged with a crime and that a criminal trial will be held. An indictment is the final step in the evidence-gathering process before a person is put on trial for a serious crime, especially a felony. In the U. S., such indictments are presented by a grand jury—the group of people responsible for determining whether there is enough evidence of a crime for a suspect to be put on trial. Indictment can also be used in a more general way, outside of a legal context, to mean an accusation, strong criticism, or something that has the effect of revealing something as being deserving of criticism. Indictment is a noun form of the verb indict, which can be used in the sense of making formal criminal charges or in the more general sense of accusing or criticizing. Example: According to the indictment, the suspect is being charged with armed robbery.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of indictment
First recorded in 1275–1325; indict + -ment; replacing Middle English enditement, from Anglo-French ( see indite)
Explanation
An indictment, or a legal document charging you with a crime, is something you don't want to be the recipient of, so try not to rob any banks or start any money laundering schemes, and you'll probably be okay. An indictment is most frequently a charge of a serious crime. You may have heard on television legal programs the phrase "on the first count of the indictment," which means that there's more than one charge of a category of crime in the indictment. The word can also be used more informally to mean an accusation. A book or article detailing the wrongdoing of a person or industry may be said to be an indictment of that person or industry.
Vocabulary lists containing indictment
The Bill of Rights
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A Raisin in the Sun
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You Can Say That Again: Dic and Dict
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Vu tried to cash at least six Treasury checks totaling $2.15 million and successfully cashed two tax fund refunds worth $772,159, the indictment says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 2026
The indictment states that he had been granted bail at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on 9 January 2025.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
Spagnuolo on Wednesday also told a court that his indictment should be dismissed because prediction market bets aren’t covered by traditional antifraud laws.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
District Court Judge Waverly Crenshaw’s May decision to dismiss an indictment against Abrego Garcia after he found it was a blatantly tainted investigation “with a vindictive motive.”
From Slate ● Aug. 23, 2026
“Of course,” said Young, surrendering a copy of his indictment.
From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright
The allegations in these indictments apparently are that they went beyond exaggerating the threats and actually supported these organizations to make them bigger threats so they could then monitor them or do whatever they did.
From Slate ● Aug. 22, 2026
At the time of the indictments, Sheinbaum said Mexico wouldn’t extradite the men, as requested by the U.S., because no evidence had been submitted supporting the charges.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
Sheinbaum responded to the indictments by requesting the US provide "irrefutable" evidence against Rocha Moya before potentially extraditing him.
From Barron's ● Jul. 7, 2026
Since the indictments became public, Mexico has opened criminal investigations into the 10 Sinaloa officials and frozen their bank accounts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 6, 2026
Arrests, indictments, and a torrent of media coverage flooded the case of the atomic spies.
From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
