accusatus

Accusatus is a Latin term functioning as the perfect passive participle of the verb accūsāre, meaning “to accuse.” In Latin, accusatus is used both as an adjective and as a participle, describing someone who has been accused. It can also appear as a substantive noun in legal contexts to mean “the accused” or “the defendant.” The word agrees with its noun in gender, number, and case.

Morphology and etymology

Accusatus follows the typical 1st/2nd declension pattern of Latin participles. The masculine nominative singular is accusatus, with accusata (feminine) and accusatum (neuter) as the corresponding singular forms; the plural forms are accusati (masculine), accusatae (feminine), and accusata (neuter). Etymologically, it is derived from the verb accūsāre (“to accuse”) with the common participial suffix -atus, yielding a word that denotes a person who has undergone the action of the verb.

Usage in Latin texts

In Classical and Medieval Latin, accusatus appears in legal and rhetorical passages to characterize a person charged with an offense. As a substantive, it is often used without an explicit noun, understood from context as “the accused.” It also appears in the common phrase structure, such as “accusatus est” (he has been accused). The term is related to the noun accusātiō, meaning “an accusation,” and to the verb accūsāre.

See also

accusation, accusatio, accūsāre, accusatus as a Latin legal and grammatical term.