English Dictionary |
PERSECUTE
Pronunciation (US): | ![]() | (GB): | ![]() |
IPA (US): | ![]() |
Dictionary entry overview: What does persecute mean?
• PERSECUTE (verb)
The verb PERSECUTE has 1 sense:
Familiarity information: PERSECUTE used as a verb is very rare.
Dictionary entry details
Conjugation: |
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Past simple: persecuted
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Past participle: persecuted
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-ing form: persecuting
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Sense 1
Meaning:
Cause to suffer
Classified under:
Verbs of political and social activities and events
Synonyms:
oppress; persecute
Context example:
Some religious groups are persecuted in some countries
Hypernyms (to "persecute" is one way to...):
bedevil; crucify; dun; frustrate; rag; torment (treat cruelly)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "persecute"):
purge (oust politically)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s somebody
Derivation:
persecution (the act of persecuting (especially on the basis of race or religion))
persecutor (someone who torments)
Context examples
“And how was it,” asked my uncle, angrily, “that you have allowed an innocent man to be persecuted all these years, when a word from you might have saved him?”
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Persecuted and tortured as I am and have been, can death be any evil to me?
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
We did; and, Tedo, you know, I helped you in prosecuting (or persecuting) your tutor, whey-faced Mr. Vining—the parson in the pip, as we used to call him.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
You persecute the prophets! Galileo! Darwin, and I— (Prolonged cheering and complete interruption.)
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The guard treated him unfairly, lied about him to the warden, lost his credits, persecuted him.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
At which times they would approach as near as they durst, and imitate my actions after the manner of monkeys, but ever with great signs of hatred; as a tame jackdaw with cap and stockings is always persecuted by the wild ones, when he happens to be got among them.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
This made Lip-lip the leader, and was apparently an honour! but in reality it took away from him all honour, and instead of being bully and master of the pack, he now found himself hated and persecuted by the pack.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
Learn English with... Proverbs |
"If you tell the truth, people are not happy; if beaten with a stick, dogs are not happy." (Bhutanese proverb)
"The best friend is the one who does not joke around." (Arabic proverb)
"He who protects himself from cold also wards off heat." (Corsican proverb)