arraign
Americanverb (used with object)
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Law. to call or bring before a court to answer to an indictment, a formal charge for which it has been ascertained that there is enough evidence to warrant trial.
He is scheduled to be arraigned this morning on drug and gun charges.
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to accuse or charge in general; criticize; censure.
I am not arraigning Professor Wells for these omissions, only mentioning them to indicate how complex such questions can be.
verb
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to bring (a prisoner) before a court to answer an indictment
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to call to account; complain about; accuse
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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arraignsimple
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arraignssimple
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have arraignedperfect
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has arraignedperfect
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am arraigningprogressive
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are arraigningprogressive
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is arraigningprogressive
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have been arraigningperfect progressive
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has been arraigningperfect progressive
Past
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arraignedsimple
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had arraignedperfect
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was arraigningprogressive
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were arraigningprogressive
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had been arraigningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of arraign
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English arainen, from Anglo-French arainer, Old French araisnier, equivalent to a- a- 5 + raisnier, from unrecorded Vulgar Latin ratiōnāre “to talk, reason”; see ratio
Explanation
To arraign someone is to call the person before a court of law to be charged. You've probably seen it in movies. It's the part where an official charge is read and the accused responds by saying "guilty" or "not guilty." Arraign comes from Old French, but it traces back to the Latin ad, meaning “to,” and ration, meaning “reason or account.” So if you arraign someone, it’s like you're presenting an account — a record — of the thing the person has done wrong. You're outlining a formal charge in court. Arraign can also be used more broadly to describe any accusation of wrongdoing.
Vocabulary lists containing arraign
The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
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Othello
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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
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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:
O’Connor said federal law and rules of criminal procedure “require this Court to publicly arraign Boeing and permit the crime victims’ representatives to be heard at or in advance of the proceeding.”
From Washington Post ● Jan. 19, 2023
In most circumstances, prosecutors have 48 hours to arraign a person in custody, said Louis Shapiro, a well-known defense lawyer in California.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 18, 2022
The prosecutor noted the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic could put a snag in efforts to arraign Schulte on the new charges and start his retrial as soon as possible, however.
From Washington Times ● May 30, 2020
Hägglund wants to arraign capitalism for a similar asceticism.
From The New Yorker ● May 13, 2019
Mary refused to acknowledge their jurisdiction, denying that they possessed any right either to arraign or try her.
From Life of Mary Queen of Scots, Volume II (of 2) by Bell, Henry Glassford
Clummerhorn has the cars towed to his garage, lodges the young people in his hotel, arraigns them in his traffic court.
From Time Magazine Archive
Amid echoes of the ominous thunderclap of the Faubus election victory in Arkansas, Author Dabbs speaks in a deceptively small voice, but arraigns himself no less harshly than his neighbors.
From Time Magazine Archive
It loosely and libelously arraigns Canada Packers Ltd.,
From Time Magazine Archive
Then the clerk of arraigns counted his tickets to make sure he had used up twelve, while his clerk counted the jurymen to see that they came to the same number.
From The Queen Against Owen by Upward, Allen
He arraigns the fashionable world for pronouncing heard as herd, instead of by its true sound of heard, in analogy with feared.
From Noah Webster American Men of Letters by Scudder, Horace E.
He hadn’t been arraigned by Friday evening, a spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
He is scheduled to be arraigned June 30, records show.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026
Juin was arraigned late Thursday and released on a $2 million bond.
From MarketWatch ● May 29, 2026
He was in custody and due to be arraigned on Monday in a federal court.
From Barron's ● Apr. 26, 2026
“It’s one of those court-appointed ones. He thinks they’ll have you arraigned early next week.”
From "On the Come Up" by Angie Thomas
“It’s been arraigning — I mean, raining,” Mr. Conway tweeted.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 12, 2022
Dr Mehmood says there aren't enough police available to "handle all these cases efficiently and judiciously, without arraigning innocent people to complete paperwork and save their jobs".
From BBC ● Mar. 12, 2020
It is hard to resist the conclusion that Garner, in full maternal mode, is arraigning him for not being more of a man.
From The New Yorker ● Dec. 4, 2016
Another positive development involves arraigning and prosecuting poachers in courts in the main cities, which are considered less susceptible to corruption than their local counterparts.
From National Geographic ● Dec. 10, 2015
It was high pitched and strident, as if a relentless lawyer were arraigning a criminal.
From The Best Short Stories of 1919 and the Yearbook of the American Short Story by O'Brien, Edward J. (Edward Joseph Harrington)
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.
