prosecute
verb /ˈprɒsɪkjuːt/
/ˈprɑːsɪkjuːt/
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they prosecute | /ˈprɒsɪkjuːt/ /ˈprɑːsɪkjuːt/ |
| he / she / it prosecutes | /ˈprɒsɪkjuːts/ /ˈprɑːsɪkjuːts/ |
| past simple prosecuted | /ˈprɒsɪkjuːtɪd/ /ˈprɑːsɪkjuːtɪd/ |
| past participle prosecuted | /ˈprɒsɪkjuːtɪd/ /ˈprɑːsɪkjuːtɪd/ |
| -ing form prosecuting | /ˈprɒsɪkjuːtɪŋ/ /ˈprɑːsɪkjuːtɪŋ/ |
- [transitive, intransitive] to officially charge somebody with a crime in court
- The police decided not to prosecute.
- prosecute somebody/something Trespassers will be prosecuted (= a notice telling people to keep out of a particular area).
- prosecute somebody/something for (doing) something The company was prosecuted for breaching the Health and Safety Act.
WordfinderTopics Law and justicec1- abide by something
- court
- crime
- justice
- law
- legal
- police
- prosecute
- punish
- trial
- [intransitive, transitive] prosecute (somebody) to be a lawyer in a court case for a person or an organization that is charging somebody with a crime
- the prosecuting counsel/lawyer/attorney
- James Spencer, prosecuting, claimed that the witness was lying.
- [transitive] prosecute something (formal) to continue taking part in or doing something
- They had overwhelming public support to prosecute the war.
Word Originlate Middle English (in sense (3)): from Latin prosecut- ‘pursued, accompanied’, from the verb prosequi, from pro- ‘onward’ + sequi ‘follow’.