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 (Southern England)

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Verb

prosecute (third-person singular simple present prosecutes, present participle prosecuting, simple past and past participle prosecuted)

1. (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; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, line 898:

     To acquit themſelves and proſecute their foes

2. (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 […]

3. To seek to obtain by legal process.

   to prosecute a right or a claim in a court of law

4. (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, [Act I, scene i]:

   I am beloved of beauteous Hermia; / Why should not I, then, prosecute my right?

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

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 起訴／起诉 (zh) (qǐsù)

• Finnish: nostaa syyte
• French: poursuivre en justice
• German: strafrechtlich verfolgen (law), gerichtlich (de) belangen (law), belangen (de)
• Japanese: 起訴する (きそ-する, kiso-suru)
• Maori: hāmene
• Norman: poursuivre
• Russian: пресле́довать (ru) impf (preslédovatʹ)
• Spanish: procesar (es)
• Swedish: beivra (sv)
• Turkish: kovuşturma açmak (tr)
• Welsh: erlyn (cy)

To charge, try

• Bulgarian: обвинявам (bg) (obvinjavam)
• Finnish: syyttää (fi)
• German: anklagen (de), bestrafen (de), vor Gericht stellen
• Persian: محاکمه کردن (fa) (mohâkeme kardan)
• Scottish Gaelic: tagair

To pursue something to the end

• Bulgarian: гоня (bg) (gonja), преследвам (bg) (presledvam)
• Catalan: perseguir (ca)
• German: betreiben (de), verfolgen (de)
• Maori: makawe (mi)
• Persian: دنبال کردن (fa) (donbâl kardan)

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

1. vocative masculine singular of prōsecūtus