accused vs defendant

accused and defendant both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
accused	Yes	No	No	No
defendant	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, defendant is a hypernym of accused; that is, defendant is a word with a broader meaning than accused:

accused: a defendant in a criminal proceeding
defendant: a person or institution against whom an action is brought in a court of law; the person being sued or accused

Other hypernyms of accused include suspect.

accused (noun)	defendant (noun)
a defendant in a criminal proceeding	a person or institution against whom an action is brought in a court of law; the person being sued or accused