Prosecuting

How to spell prosecuting

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce prosecuting

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does prosecuting mean?

1. verbBringing or conducting a criminal or civil case against someone in a court of law.
2. verbContinuing with or carrying out an activity or plan to its conclusion.

Prosecuting in a sentence

• The prosecuting lawyer presented the evidence to the jury.

• The company is prosecuting its expansion into overseas markets.

• The state is prosecuting him for fraud after a long investigation.

• They are prosecuting the research project despite limited funding.

Where does prosecuting come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin prosequi, which literally meant 'to follow forth' or 'to pursue', built from the prefix pro- meaning 'forward' and the verb sequi meaning 'to follow'. Its past participle stem prosecutus gave English the verb prosecute, and the same sequi root sits inside familiar relatives such as 'sequence', 'consequence', and 'pursue'. When the word entered English in the fifteenth century it carried the broad sense of carrying something through to completion, so one could prosecute a journey, a war, or a business. Over time the legal sense narrowed to mean pursuing a case against someone in a court of law, which is now the dominant meaning. The spelling preserves the Latin secut- stem, so remember a single 's' in the middle and the '-cut-' that comes from following ('sequi'), not from cutting.

How the word is built

• pro- (onward, forth)
• sequ-/secut- (to follow, from Latin sequi)
• -ute
• -ing (present participle)