Prosecute

How to spell prosecute

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce prosecute

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does prosecute mean?

1. verbTo bring criminal charges against a person and conduct legal proceedings against them in court.
2. verbTo carry out, continue, or pursue an activity or plan through to completion.

Prosecute in a sentence

• The state will prosecute anyone caught dumping waste in the river.

• The company plans to prosecute its expansion into overseas markets next year.

• Trespassers on the site face signs warning that the owners will prosecute offenders.

• The committee was determined to prosecute the inquiry until every question was answered.

Where does prosecute come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin prosequi, meaning 'to follow forward' or 'to pursue', built from the prefix pro- 'forward, onward' and the verb sequi 'to follow'. Its past participle stem prosecutus gave English the spelling we still use, with that telltale -secute that comes from the idea of following something through to the end. The word entered English in the fifteenth century, at first carrying the broad sense of pursuing or carrying out any course of action, such as continuing a war or seeing a project through. The narrower legal meaning, to follow a case through the courts against an accused person, grew out of that older 'pursue' sense and is now the dominant one. The same Latin sequi root sits inside many relatives an adult will recognise, including 'sequence', 'consequence', 'pursue', and 'persecute', and that family resemblance is worth holding onto: the middle is -secute, not -secrute or -secut, so think of 'follow' (sequi) hiding in the spelling.

How the word is built

• pro- (forward, onward)
• secut (from Latin sequi: to follow)
• -e