Recriminate is a verb that means to accuse someone who has made an accusation against you.

The Latin word criminare (crim in ARE ay) means ‘accuse.’ Our word of the day gets its origin with the addition of the prefix R-E, meaning ‘opposition.’ So to recriminate someone is to make a counteraccusation against your accuser.

When the mayor was alleged to have embezzled funds from his office, he made the odd decision to recriminate those who accused him. But in the end, he was simply confirming that others were involved in the embezzlement with him.