Meaning & use
prefer charges
Last updated
Meanings
phrasefixed phraselegallaw
To formally accuse someone of a crime by making an official legal complaint against them.
Grammar: Used with against before the person: charges were preferred against him; it is not used with a simple direct object like 'prefer charges him'.
Patterns
- prefer charges against someone
- prefer charges in connection with something
- prefer a charge of something against someone
The prosecutor decided to prefer charges against the two men after reviewing the evidence.
Under state law, charges may be preferred within five years of the alleged offense.
Her lawyer argued that no charges should be preferred without stronger proof.
phrasefixed phraselegallawformal
To state a specific accusation in an official document that begins a criminal case.
Grammar: Often appears in the passive with the charge named: a charge of fraud was preferred against the director.
Patterns
- a charge of something is preferred against someone
- prefer a charge of something
A charge of theft was preferred against the former manager last week.
The grand jury preferred a charge of perjury against the witness.
Common combinations
- prefer charges against someone
- The district attorney preferred charges against three people in the case.
- charges were preferred
- Charges were preferred only after a long investigation.
- prefer a charge of fraud
- The court agreed to prefer a charge of fraud rather than theft.
- decline to prefer charges
- Officials declined to prefer charges because the evidence was weak.
- the decision to prefer charges
- The decision to prefer charges rests with the prosecutor, not the police.
Synonyms and how they differ
- bring charges
- More common in ordinary and British usage, and it does not sound as formal as prefer charges.
- press charges
- Used mostly when a victim or witness asks the police to act, while prefer charges describes the official legal step.
- indict
- A technical term for a grand jury formally accusing someone; it is narrower than prefer charges.
- accuse
- A general everyday word for saying someone did wrong, with no legal procedure involved.
Opposites
Word family
- charge noun
- A formal accusation that someone has committed a crime.
- charge verb
- To accuse someone officially of a crime.
- preferment noun
- Promotion to a higher position, especially in the church; unrelated in meaning to prefer charges.
Commonly confused: prefer charges or prefer? prefer charges or press charges?
prefer charges vs prefer
In everyday English prefer means to like one thing more than another; the legal phrase prefer charges uses an older legal sense of the same verb.
prefer charges vs press charges
Press charges is the everyday phrase for asking the police to prosecute someone; prefer charges is formal legal wording used by courts and lawyers.
Practice
Which sentence uses the legal phrase correctly?
Choose one answer.
The legal phrase takes against before the accused person: prefer charges against someone. Option 0 wrongly puts the person directly after the phrase, and options 2 and 3 use the everyday verb prefer, which has nothing to do with criminal accusations.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “prefer charges”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.