indict
Americanverb (used with object)
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Law. (of a grand jury) to bring a formal accusation against (someone) as a means of bringing a case to trial after ascertaining that there is enough evidence.
The grand jury indicted him for murder.
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to charge with an offense or crime; accuse of wrongdoing; incriminate; condemn.
He tends to indict everyone of plotting against him.
verb
Usage
What does indict mean? To indict someone is to officially charge them with a crime that will be the subject of a criminal trial. Indicting a suspect is the final step in the evidence-gathering process before a person is put on trial for a serious crime, especially a felony. The official announcement of this accusation is called an indictment. 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. Indict can also be used in a more general way, outside of a legal context, to mean to accuse or strongly criticize, or to reveal something as being deserving of criticism. The noun indictment can also be used in this more general sense. Example: The suspect has been indicted for armed robbery and will face trial next month.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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indictsimple
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indictssimple
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have indictedperfect
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has indictedperfect
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am indictingprogressive
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are indictingprogressive
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is indictingprogressive
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have been indictingperfect progressive
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has been indictingperfect progressive
Past
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indictedsimple
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had indictedperfect
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was indictingprogressive
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were indictingprogressive
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had been indictingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of indict
First recorded in 1620–30; variant spelling (from Medieval Latin ) of indite
Explanation
If you accuse someone of committing an offense, you indict them. A book that indicts the entire education system might lay out all the reasons that schools are failing kids. In a legal sense, the verb indict means to bring formal charges against someone, especially in a court of law, as in a federal grand jury. The grand jury indicted, the man on 12 counts of murder. Although it's true the boy had stolen cookies from the cookie jar in the past, that is no reason to indict him out of hand in the present case. There were no witnesses and the crumb evidence would suggest someone else committed the crime.
Vocabulary lists containing indict
You Can Say That Again: Dic and Dict
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Fast Food Nation
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The Hate U Give
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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:
Second, it turns out that the grand jury originally refused to indict the Broadview Six, and instead came back with what’s called a “no true bill.”
From Slate ● May 22, 2026
But grand juries refused to indict many demonstrators accused by federal prosecutors of attacking agents, and a Times review of alleged assaults found that most incidents resulted in no injuries.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 27, 2026
Last month, a Texas grand jury declined to indict the federal agent who shot Martinez.
From BBC ● Mar. 6, 2026
After a judge dismissed the case, two federal grand juries declined to indict James again, and Keller returned to Missouri.
From Salon ● Feb. 18, 2026
Ms. Ofrah said they would be leading protests around the city if the grand jury didn’t indict.
From "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas
In “Violent Saviors” Mr. Easterly indicts an idea he calls “the Development Right of Conquest”—quite the mouthful—which “confers the right to conquer lands on those who bring material progress to these lands.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 7, 2025
With his compassionate humor, Chekhov neither indicts his characters nor lets them off the hook for their myopic concerns.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2022
May 7 — Federal grand jury indicts Chauvin, Lane, Kueng and Thao on civil rights charges.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 19, 2022
How does it feel for you personally seeing this, as you say, unprecedented federal trial that basically indicts the entire music industry?
From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2021
In wisdom and in mercy heaven indicts, Like a wise leech, its painful remedies.
From The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 10, No. 274, September 22, 1827 by Various
The United States has also indicted former president Raul Castro, brother of revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, over the downing of two civilian planes three decades ago.
From Barron's ● Jul. 14, 2026
Last year, a federal grand jury indicted Bolton on 18 counts.
From Slate ● Jun. 26, 2026
The most high-profile target to date is Rubén Rocha Moya, governor of Sinaloa state, who was indicted in U.S.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2026
In 2024, Cuellar was indicted for allegedly accepting $600,000 in bribes from a government-owned Azerbaijani oil and gas company as well as a bank headquartered in Mexico City.
From Salon ● Jun. 11, 2026
Several witnesses were indicted and convicted, but prosecutors decided not to charge Springer, because he would demand delaying the second trial of Hale and Ramsey until his own case was resolved.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
Police in Texas investigated Lucy's death as possible manslaughter but a grand jury in Collin County decided against indicting her father.
From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2026
“Britannia rules the waves” encapsulated Great Britain’s command of the seas in a bygone era, but it’s now an empty slogan indicting the British navy’s decline.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 6, 2026
But the track’s harshest beatdown is reserved for a final verse indicting the music industry’s silence.
From Salon ● May 8, 2024
But defense lawyers have claimed the government dragged its feet in indicting Washington and Jordan, making it harder for them to defend themselves.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 27, 2024
The attorney general, at this juncture, conceived the idea of indicting the individual alluded to, for an attempt to overturn the government.
From The Teacher Or, Moral Influences Employed in the Instruction and Government of the Young by Abbott, Jacob
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.
