Meaning & use
charge
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
The amount of money a business or person asks you to pay for goods or a service.
Grammar: Countable when it means a fee: a small charge, two separate charges; free of charge is a fixed phrase.
Patterns
- a charge for something
- free of charge
- at no extra charge
There is a small charge for using the parking lot.
The hotel adds a service charge to every bill.
Delivery is free of charge on orders over fifty dollars.
verbtransitive or intransitive
To ask someone to pay a particular amount for something they buy or use.
Grammar: Often takes two objects: the plumber charged us eighty dollars. It can also stand alone: they charge by the hour.
Patterns
- charge someone something for something
- charge for something
- charge something to an account
The garage charged me a hundred dollars for the repair.
Some museums don't charge for children.
Please charge the dinner to my room.
verbtransitivelegal
To formally accuse someone of a crime, usually by police or a prosecutor.
Grammar: Takes an object and usually with: they charged him with theft. It is often used in the passive: she was charged with fraud.
Patterns
- charge someone with something
- be charged with something
Police charged two men with burglary.
She was charged with driving without insurance.
No one has been charged in connection with the fire.
nouncountable or uncountablephysicstechnical
A property of matter, positive or negative, that causes particles to attract or repel one another; also the amount of electrical energy stored in a device.
Grammar: Uncountable for the general idea: the battery has little charge left. Countable in physics: a positive charge.
Patterns
- a positive charge
- the charge on something
- low on charge
An electron carries a negative charge.
My phone has only ten percent charge left.
Rubbing the balloon gave it a static charge.
verbtransitive or intransitive
To put electrical energy into a battery or device so that it can work.
Grammar: With an object: charge your phone. Without one, the device is the subject: the laptop is charging.
Patterns
- charge something up
- charge something overnight
I need to charge my headphones before the flight.
The scooter charges fully in about four hours.
Leave the camera plugged in to charge overnight.
verbintransitive
To rush forward suddenly and with force, especially to attack or reach something.
Grammar: Usually followed by a direction word or at: the bull charged at the fence; it can also take an object in military use.
Patterns
- charge at someone
- charge into something
- charge down something
The rhino lowered its head and charged at the jeep.
Children charged down the stairs when they heard the ice cream van.
Soldiers charged across the field.
Word forms
| third person singular | charges |
|---|---|
| past tense | charged |
| past participle | charged |
| -ing form | charging |
| plural | charges |
Common combinations
- in charge of
- Maria is in charge of the new project.
- free of charge
- The museum offers audio guides free of charge.
- press charges
- The shop owner decided to press charges against the thief.
- service charge
- A twelve percent service charge was added to the bill.
- charge a battery
- You should charge the battery before a long trip.
- take charge
- When the manager left, Jo took charge of the meeting.
Synonyms and how they differ
- fee
- Fee is a fixed payment for a service or right, such as a membership fee, while charge can also be an extra amount added to a bill.
- accuse
- Accuse is more general and can be informal, whereas charge means a formal legal accusation.
- rush
- Rush simply means to move quickly, while charge adds force and often aggression.
- cost
- Cost is what you pay for something, while charge is what the seller asks you to pay.
Opposites
Word family
- charger noun
- A device that supplies electricity to a battery
- discharge verb
- To release, remove or let go, as of a battery or a patient
- recharge verb
- To charge a battery again, or to rest and regain energy
- chargeable adjective
- Able to be charged, or that must be paid for
- surcharge noun
- An extra amount added to the usual price
Commonly confused: charge or fee?
charge vs fee
A fee is the money paid; a charge can be a fee but also a legal accusation or electrical energy. You pay a fee, but you cannot say someone accused a fee.
Practice
The police have decided to ____ the driver with causing a dangerous accident.
Choose one answer.
Charge someone with a crime is the standard legal pattern. Accuse takes of, not with, and fine would mean to make someone pay money as a penalty.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “charge”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.