persecute

See also: persécuté and persécute

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French persécuter, from Ecclesiastical Latin persecutor, from Latin persequor, persecutus (“follow up, pursue”), from per- (“through”) +‎ sequor (“follow”) (English sequel). Compare prosecute. Cf. also pursue.

Pronunciation

(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɝsəkjut/

Verb

persecute (third-person singular simple present persecutes, present participle persecuting, simple past and past participle persecuted)

To pursue in a manner to injure, grieve, or afflict; to beset with cruelty or malignity; to harass; especially, to afflict, harass, punish, or put to death for one's race, sexual identity, adherence to a particular religious creed, or mode of worship.
He who persecutes one will persecute all.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Matthew 5:44:
  "Do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you."
To harass with importunity; to pursue with persistent solicitations; to annoy.

Synonyms

oppress, harass, distress, worry, annoy

Related terms

▼ <a class='CategoryTreeLabel CategoryTreeLabelNs14 CategoryTreeLabelCategory' href='/wiki/Category:English_terms_derived_from_the_PIE_root_*sek%CA%B7-' title='Category:English terms derived from the PIE root *sekʷ-'>English terms derived from the PIE root *sekʷ-</a>‎ (1 c, 0 e)

► <a class='CategoryTreeLabel CategoryTreeLabelNs14 CategoryTreeLabelCategory' href='/wiki/Category:English_terms_derived_from_the_PIE_root_*sek%CA%B7-_(follow)' title='Category:English terms derived from the PIE root *sekʷ- (follow)'>English terms derived from the PIE root *sekʷ- (follow)</a>‎ (0 c, 107 e)

Translations

to pursue in a manner to injure, grieve, or afflict

Belarusian: прасле́даваць impf (prasljédavacʹ)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 迫害 (zh) (pòhài)
Dutch: vervolgen (nl)
Esperanto: persekuti
Finnish: vainota (fi)
French: persécuter (fr)
German: verfolgen (de), schikanieren (de), bedrängen (de), peinigen (de)
Greek:
Ancient: διώκω (diṓkō)

Japanese: 迫害する (ja) (はくがいする, hakugai suru)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: forfølge (no)
Portuguese: perseguir (pt)
Russian: пресле́довать (ru) impf (preslédovatʹ), подверга́ть гоне́ниям impf (podvergátʹ gonénijam)
Serbo-Croatian: progoniti (sh)
Spanish: perseguir (es)
Swahili: kuudhi
Ukrainian: переслі́дувати impf (pereslíduvaty)

to harass with importunity

Finnish: ahdistella (fi)
German: plagen (de), belästigen (de), drangsalieren (de), haschen (de)
Kannada: ಕಾಡು (kn) (kāḍu)
Maori: hawene

Portuguese: perseguir (pt)
Russian: докуча́ть (ru) impf (dokučátʹ), надоеда́ть (ru) impf (nadojedátʹ), донима́ть (ru) impf (donimátʹ), досажда́ть (ru) impf (dosaždátʹ), достава́ть (ru) impf (dostavátʹ) (colloquial)
Serbo-Croatian: proganjati (sh)

References

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for persecute in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

Latin

Participle

persecūte

vocative masculine singular of persecūtus

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