press charges

idiom

: to take legal action against someone : to officially accuse someone of a crime

He was caught shoplifting, but the store owner didn't press charges.

Examples of press charges in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Lucky for them, the cemetery employee declined to press charges. —

Elaine Ayala, San Antonio Express-News, 4 Sep. 2024 The worker declined to press charges when military police were called to respond to the incident at the cemetery, the Army said. —

Sara Dorn, Forbes, 3 Sep. 2024 The incident was reported to the JBM-HH police department, but the employee subsequently decided not to press charges. —

Anders Hagstrom, Fox News, 1 Sep. 2024 Thomas did not want to press charges, and Maldonado was taken to a hospital for psychiatric violation rather than jail, Thomas’ family says. —

Ellen Moynihan, New York Daily News, 12 Aug. 2024 See all Example Sentences for press charges

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'press charges.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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“Press charges.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/press%20charges. Accessed 17 Sep. 2024.

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