charge

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA ^(key): /ˈʧɑrʤ/
• (US) IPA ^(key): /ˈʧɑːʤ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Verb

Plain form charge

Third-person singular charges

Past tense charged

Past participle charged

Present participle charging

1. (transitive & intransitive) When you charge someone money, you ask them to pay the money for something that you have done for them or sold to them.

   We charge ten cents a page for copying.

   The shop charged me $5 to deliver the pizza.

   The law doesn't limit the size of fees banks can charge.

   The price the hotel charges is just too expensive.

2. (transitive) (law) When the police charge someone with a crime, they officially say that the person did something illegal.
   • Synonym: blame

   A short time later, police arrested the man and charged him with murder.

   Many of the people in jail have not been charged with crimes.

3. (intransitive) If you charge that something is wrong, you say it is.
   • Synonym: blame

   Many critics charge that our schools are not doing a good job.

4. (transitive) When you charge something at a store, you put it on credit.

   The business man charged all of his meals to his company.

5. (transitive & intransitive) When you charge at a thing, you run toward it.
   • Synonym: attack

   The bull charged the man walking in the field.

6. (transitive & intransitive) When you charge (up) a battery, or when you charge (up) something that has a battery, you put electrical energy into it to be stored.

   Oh no! I forgot to charge up the camera and the batteries are dead.

   I don't want to leave the house right now, because my cell phone is charging.

Noun

Singular charge

Plural charges

1. (countable) A charge is a claim the somebody has done something wrong or illegal, especially a claim by police.

   He says charges against his son are false.

   The police have filed criminal charges against the company.

   They will ask the judge to drop the murder charge against Sutherland.

   Jowdy denied the charges of lying.

2. (countable) A charge for something is the price of the thing. It often it is for a service or fee for a period of time.
   • Synonyms: price, cost, rate, fee and fare

   The charge for having an item shipped varies according to the weight.

   The charge each month for the phone service is fifty dollars.

   The university agreed to let them use the space free of charge.

   Credit card companies must list the fees and interest charges separately on your monthly bill.

   Do you want to put that on your charge card?

3. (countable) If someone is in charge of something, they are responsible for it.
   • Synonyms: care and control

   Josh is in charge of buying drinks for the party.

   He took good care of the children in his charge.

4. (countable) If someone leads the charge, they are working hard to make some kind of change.

   Amazon.com led the charge in making electronic books popular.

   These are the workers who have led the charge for employer-paid health care.

   Teachers have led the charge against the new tests.

5. (countable) Your charge is the person that you are responsible for, often a child.
   • Synonym: responsibility

   The teacher smiled at his young charges.

6. (countable) A charge is a movement towards somebody to attack them.
   • Synonym: attack

   Moriarity then led the charge that pushed Bishop out the door into a hallway.

   The game ends with the Eagles fighting off a late charge by the Potomac Braves to win, 63-59.

7. (countable) A charge is the amount of electrical energy that something holds.

   And once you've used up the electric charge, your electric car stops working.

   The batteries will slowly lose their charge.

8. (countable) A charge is the explosive in a gun or a bomb.

   When the charge exploded, there was a large hole in the wall.

Related words

• charger