Persecute
['pɜːsɪkjuːt] or ['pɝsɪkjut]
Definition
(verb.) cause to suffer; 'Jews were persecuted in the former Soviet Union'.
Checked by Alma--From WordNet
Definition
(v. t.) 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 adherence to a particular religious creed or mode of worship.
(v. t.) To harass with importunity; to pursue with persistent solicitations; to annoy.
Editor: Rochelle
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. Oppress, harass, afflict, molest, distress, worry, hunt down, run down, pursue malignantly, drive from pillar to post.
Inputed by Frieda
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Harass, molest, annoy, worry, vex
ANT:Encourage, inspirit, abet, support
Typed by Julie
Definition
v.t. to pursue so as to injure or annoy: to follow after persistently: to annoy or punish esp. for religious or political opinions.—ns. Persecū′tion act or practice of persecuting: state of being persecuted: a time of general oppression on account of religious opinions; Per′secūtor:—fem. Per′secūtrix.
Typist: Pierce
Examples
- And then he says I persecute him, that he can't get rid of me. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- They seem to be in a conspiracy to persecute you, she said. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- These Gentiles, cruel and oppressive as they are, are in some sort dependent on the dispersed children of Zion, whom they despise and persecute. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- His family persecuted him; persecuted the girl, as well. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- Ever since her womanhood almost, had she not been persecuted and undervalued? William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- The Jesuits, in a phase of ascendancy, persecuted and insulted the Buddhists with great acrimony. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- He persecuted Greek literature, about which, until late in life, he was totally ignorant. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- I have been persecuted and annoyed by scoundrels of late, Sir. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- It must not be watched for heresy or persecuted for any ideas it may express. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Persecuted virtue never looked more bewitchingly wretched. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- I have but one favour to ask: let me alone, instead of persecuting me with all this show of tenderness. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- When immortal Bunyan makes his picture of the persecuting passions bringing in their verdict of guilty, who pities Faithful? George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- I was prepared to be persecuted for not persecuting--not persecuting, you know. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- For Innocent III was one of the great persecuting Popes, an able, grasping, and aggressive man. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- We are Lowlanders of Scotland, following a Covenanting captain up into the hills to hold a meeting out of the reach of persecuting troopers. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
Editor: Milton