[General] Incriminate

[yslamac]

The girl incriminated her younger brother by saying he had eaten the pizza.

Are there any words or expressions which are the same as "incriminate", but with a less serious connotation?

Thank you.

 

[emsr2d2]

She dropped her brother in it.
She dobbed him in.

Those two might be specific to BrE.

 

[khanhhung2512]

NOT A TEACHER
How about:
The girl blamed her younger brother for having eaten the pizza.
The girl accused her younger brother of having eaten the pizza.
Are they acceptable?

 

[Roman55]

I am not a teacher.

She grassed him up.

 

[Rover_KE]

She ratted him out.
She squealed on him.
She told on him.

 

[MikeNewYork]

"Tattled on" would work, as would "gave up". Most of the expressions offered by my BrE colleagues are completely foreign to me.

 

[Grumpy]

There's a good Scots word for it, which is both a verb and a noun: "clipe"
To "clipe" on someone is to "tell on" them, or incriminate them - normally to a teacher in a school context. Anyone who does that is then labelled a "Clipe" - and must bear the resulting disapprobation of their schoolfellows. I believe it is derived from the old English word "clepe": to call or name. You see it used in Chaucer's works, where various characters are "ycleped" by their names.

Come to that, I suppose "tell on" (see above) is also a synonym for "incriminate".

 

[MikeNewYork]

NOT A TEACHER
How about:
The girl blamed her younger brother for having eaten the pizza.
The girl accused her younger brother of having eaten the pizza.
Are they acceptable?

Yes, they are.

 

[Matthew Wai]

'She informed on her brother about his eating the pizza.'

Not a teacher.

 

[khanhhung2512]

'She informed on her brother about his eating the pizza.'

NOT A TEACHER
I don't think so.
+ inform on somebody: to give information to the police or somebody in authority about the illegal activities of somebody
He informed on his own brother.
http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/inform-on?q=inform+on
Am I wrong?

 

[Matthew Wai]

'inform
intransitive verb
2. to give information laying blame or accusation upon another'── quoted from the Webster's New World College Dictionary.
Does this definition apply to the OP's sentence?
Not a teacher.

 

[khanhhung2512]

'inform
intransitive verb
2. to give information laying blame or accusation upon another'── quoted from the Webster's New World College Dictionary.
Does this definition apply to the OP's sentence?

NOT A TEACHER
As for American English, http://www.learnersdictionary.com/definition/inform

inform on/against (someone)
: to give information about the secret or criminal activity of (someone) to the police

• Despite pressure from the police he refused to inform on the other conspirators.

But I suppose, "The girl informed her mother that her younger brother had eaten the pizza," will suffice.
Am I wrong?

 

[Barb_D]

Such a "clinical" statement (The girl informed her mother...) doesn't have that sense of "ratted him out."

 

[Matthew Wai]

"The girl informed her mother that her younger brother had eaten the pizza,"

If 'stealthily' was added at the end, would there be a sense of disapproval?
Not a teacher.

 

[Rover_KE]

No — that would mean he had eaten the pizza stealthily.

 

[emsr2d2]

If you meant "She informed her mother stealthily", that wouldn't work either. We generally move stealthily, we don't speak stealthily.