indict
Americanverb (used with object)
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indicts,
present (3rd person singular)
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indicted,
past participle, past
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indicting
present participle
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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:
But this changed two years ago when customary law was struck out, he explained, giving "a new regime to indict anyone taking part in the marriage of someone below the age of 18".
From BBC ● Jun. 26, 2026
We don’t have clarity on exactly what was said, but based on Judge Perry’s reaction, I strongly suspect they lobbied grand jurors to indict.
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
Three grand juries declined to indict Reid for felony assault.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 8, 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
“It’ll actually be interesting to see if a grand jury indicts these cases.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2025
Former federal officers may do so when a state indicts them for actions that were within their official duties and they have a “colorable” defense under federal law.
From Slate ● Aug. 23, 2023
May 7 — Federal grand jury indicts Chauvin, Lane, Kueng and Thao on civil rights charges.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 19, 2022
This indicts the Jesuits for every sort and kind of misdemeanour.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 8 "Dubner" to "Dyeing" by Various
The teenager, from North Carolina, was arrested last week and indicted by a grand jury on Monday, according to Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O'Neill.
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026
While they mention — almost in passing — that it’s the “same courthouse where Paxton would later be indicted for investment fraud,” the focus is on the pen.
From Salon ● Aug. 31, 2026
Authorities indicted Wang and the others two weeks after Jin was reunited with his family in the United States.
From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026
Duane “Keffe D” Davis was indicted three years ago, making him the first person to be charged in the 1996 death of the famous rapper.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
Paolo’s father was a real estate mogul who had been indicted for insider trading some months ago.
From "Genuine Fraud" by E. Lockhart
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
Before indicting the economy, consider what 50 years of growth actually delivered.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 18, 2026
Where a portion of the public has gone terribly wrong is in indicting the people who have no control over saying it.
From Salon ● Mar. 1, 2026
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
Beaumarchais avenged himself on le grand Bertrand by indicting upon him the celebrity of ridicule.
From Beaumarchais and the War of American Independence by Elizabeth S. Kite
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.
