indictment
American
noun
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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:
The judge seized on the Justice Department’s decision to charge the case through a complaint rather than the more rigorous process of securing an indictment through a grand jury.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
The charges came in the form of a criminal information filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., which allows prosecutors to bring charges against a defendant without yet seeking an indictment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 2026
Arthur and her husband fled to Pennsylvania after his 1978 indictment where he died in 2004 without having been brought back to Ohio to face the charge.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 25, 2026
The indictment goes on to state that the prosecution may present evidence about other matters dating back to 2004, but these are not formal charges at this stage.
From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2026
Twelve years prior, months after the 1992 indictment had been issued, Bill Clinton had been elected President of the United States.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
US authorities say the investigation has so far resulted in five indictments, while further 40 investigations remain open.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026
In his Tuesday ruling, Seabright declined to dismiss the indictments against defendants in the two cases that he banned Essayli from overseeing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026
Both indictments were later dismissed because of a defect involving the appointment of the prosecutor, although the Justice Department subsequently pursued a new indictment against Comey.
From Salon ● Oct. 17, 2026
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
They singled out Dr. King among the 115 blacks who had received indictments and went after him, accusing him of organizing an illegal boycott.
From "Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice" by Phillip Hoose
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
