prosecute
English
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin prōsecūtus, perfect participle of prōsequor. Doublet of pursue, from Old French. Compare also persecute.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈpɹɒsɪkjuːt/
Audio (UK) (file)
Verb
prosecute (third-person singular simple present prosecutes, present participle prosecuting, simple past and past participle prosecuted)
- (transitive, law) To start criminal proceedings against.
- to prosecute a man for trespass, or for a riot
- 1667, John Milton, “Book SAMSON AGONISTES”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554, line 898:
- To acquit themſelves and proſecute their foes
- (transitive, law) To charge, try.
- 1962 [1959], William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch, New York: Grove Press, page 8:
- The Vigilante is prosecuted in Federal Court under a lynch bill and winds up in a Federal Nut House specially designed for the containment of ghosts […]
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- To seek to obtain by legal process.
- to prosecute a right or a claim in a court of law
- (transitive) To pursue something to the end.
- to prosecute a scheme, hope, or claim
- c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene i]:
- I am beloved of beauteous Hermia; / Why should not I, then, prosecute my right?
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Derived terms
- prosecutable
Related terms
English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *sekʷ- (3 c, 0 e)
Translations
To start civil or criminal proceedings against
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To charge, try
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To pursue something to the end
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Anagrams
- creeps out, outcreeps
Latin
Participle
prōsecūte
- vocative masculine singular of prōsecūtus