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View synonyms for charge

charge

1

[ chahrj ]

verb (used with object)

, charged, charg·ing.
  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 by with ):

    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 by out ):

    The librarian will charge those books at the front desk.

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

    How many magazines may I charge at one time?

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


verb (used without object)

, charged, charg·ing.
  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

  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. 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. to write off as an expense or loss.
    2. to attribute to:

      I charged off the blunder to inexperience.

  1. Informal.
    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.

chargé

2

[ shahr-zhey, shahr-zhey; French shar-zhey ]

noun

, plural char·gés [shahr-, zheyz, shahr, -zheyz, sh, a, r, -, zhey].
  1. a chargé d'affaires.

charge

/ 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
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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
    1. an onrush, attack, or assault
    2. the call to such an attack in battle
  5. custody or guardianship
  6. a person or thing committed to someone's care
    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
  7. the quantity of anything that a receptacle is intended to hold
  8. 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. the total amount of electricity held in an accumulator, usually measured in ampere-hours qQ
  9. a load or burden
  10. a duty or responsibility; control
  11. a command, injunction, or order
  12. slang.
    a thrill
  13. law the address made by a judge to the jury at the conclusion of the evidence
  14. heraldry a design, device, or image depicted on heraldic arms

    a charge of three lions

  15. the solid propellant used in rockets, sometimes including the inhibitor
  16. in charge
    in command
  17. in charge of
    1. having responsibility for
    2. under the care of
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

charge

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


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Other Words From

  • chargeless adjective
  • self-charging adjective
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Word History and Origins

Origin of charge1

First recorded in 1175–1225; 1950–55 charge fordef 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” ( car 1 ) + -icā- verb suffix. + -re infinitive ending; (noun) Middle English, from Anglo-French, Old French, noun derivative of the verb

Origin of charge2

By shortening
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Word History and Origins

Origin of charge1

C13: from Old French chargier to load, from Late Latin carricāre; see carry
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Idioms and Phrases

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.

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 Study

See price.
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Example Sentences

That is a fact recorded by the doctor in charge of the ambulance at the inquest.

The added charge for access to hotel Wi-Fi is not only exploitative but increasingly irrelevant.

This was very blunt and surprising to hear from any official in charge of an aviation disaster.

I was convicted a year later and sentenced to death—a charge later overturned by the Supreme Court when it called for a retrial.

As late as the fifth century, powerful aristocratic women took charge of the commemoration of the dead in Rome.

He was voluble in his declarations that they would “put the screws” to Ollie on the charge of perjury.

The mother's lips could not finish the charge she was about to put upon her innocent child.

There was a time when Aristide Pujol, in sole charge of an automobile, went gaily scuttering over the roads of France.

Louis was not less astonished at this charge, than the Empress had been at the communication which aroused it.

The Countess drew a beautiful miniature from its case, which lay on the sofa near her, and presented it to her young charge.

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Related Words

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.

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