Link Centre Dictionary

persecute

per·se·cute

UK/ˈpɜːsɪkjuːt/ US/ˈpɝsəkjut/ uncommon

verb

1.

cause to suffer

  • “Jews were persecuted in the former Soviet Union”
Synonyms

Origin

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.

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.