PROSECUTE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does prosecute mean? 

• PROSECUTE (verb)
  The verb PROSECUTE has 3 senses:

1. conduct a prosecution in a court of law

2. bring a criminal action against (in a trial)

3. carry out or participate in an activity; be involved in

  Familiarity information: PROSECUTE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PROSECUTE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they prosecute    ... he / she / it prosecutes   
Past simple: prosecuted   
Past participle: prosecuted   
-ing form: prosecuting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Conduct a prosecution in a court of law

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "prosecute" is one way to...):

act; move (perform an action, or work out or perform (an action))

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

prosecution (the institution and conduct of legal proceedings against a defendant for criminal behavior)

prosecutor (a government official who conducts criminal prosecutions on behalf of the state)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Bring a criminal action against (in a trial)

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Context example:

The State of California prosecuted O.J. Simpson

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

They want to prosecute the prisoners

Antonym:

defend (be the defense counsel for someone in a trial)

Derivation:

prosecution (the institution and conduct of legal proceedings against a defendant for criminal behavior)

prosecutor (a government official who conducts criminal prosecutions on behalf of the state)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Carry out or participate in an activity; be involved in

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

engage; prosecute; pursue

Context example:

They engaged in a discussion

Hypernyms (to "prosecute" is one way to...):

act; move (perform an action, or work out or perform (an action))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "prosecute"):

commit; practice (engage in or perform)

close (engage at close quarters)

politick (engage in political activities)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

prosecution (the continuance of something begun with a view to its completion)

 Context examples 

I am told I am not to prosecute you.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

I think had there been any alternative I should have taken it, instead of prosecuting that unknown night journey.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Besides, he no longer had opportunity to see much of her in her own home, where Mrs. Morse was thoroughly prosecuting her campaign of entertainment.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

“That was it,” said Holmes, nodding approvingly; “I have no doubt of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?”

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

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)

By all which, instead of being discouraged, they are fifty times more violently bent upon prosecuting their schemes, driven equally on by hope and despair: that as for himself, being not of an enterprising spirit, he was content to go on in the old forms, to live in the houses his ancestors had built, and act as they did, in every part of life, without innovation: that some few other persons of quality and gentry had done the same, but were looked on with an eye of contempt and ill-will, as enemies to art, ignorant, and ill common-wealth’s men, preferring their own ease and sloth before the general improvement of their country.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)