- 1[transitive, intransitive] prosecute (somebody/something) (for something/doing something) to officially charge somebody with a crime in court The company was prosecuted for breaching the Health and Safety Act. Trespassers will be prosecuted (= a notice telling people to keep out of a particular area). The police decided not to prosecute. Wordfinderlawabide by something, court, crime, justice, law, legal, police, prosecute, punish, trial
- 2[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.
- 3[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’.
prosecute
verbBrE BrE//ˈprɒsɪkjuːt//; NAmE NAmE//ˈprɑːsɪkjuːt//
Verb Forms present simple I / you / we / they prosecute BrE BrE//ˈprɒsɪkjuːt//; NAmE NAmE//ˈprɑːsɪkjuːt//
he / she / it prosecutes BrE BrE//ˈprɒsɪkjuːts//; NAmE NAmE//ˈprɑːsɪkjuːts//
past simple prosecuted BrE BrE//ˈprɒsɪkjuːtɪd//; NAmE NAmE//ˈprɑːsɪkjuːtɪd//
past participle prosecuted BrE BrE//ˈprɒsɪkjuːtɪd//; NAmE NAmE//ˈprɑːsɪkjuːtɪd//
-ing form prosecuting BrE BrE//ˈprɒsɪkjuːtɪŋ//; NAmE NAmE//ˈprɑːsɪkjuːtɪŋ//
Check pronunciation: prosecute
