persecute

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.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɝsəkjut/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɜːsɪkjuːt/

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

1. To pursue in a manner to do harm or cruelty to; especially, because of the victim's race, sexual identity, or adherence to a particular belief.

   He who persecutes one will persecute all.

   • 1563 March 30 (Gregorian calendar), John Foxe, Actes and Monuments of These Latter and Perillous Dayes, […], London: […] Iohn Day, […], →OCLC:

     I have heard, brethren, how sharply Antichrist persecuteth you, in vexing the faithful servants of Christ with divers and strange kinds of afflictions.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 5:44:

     "Do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you."

2. To harass with importunity; to pursue with persistent solicitations; to annoy.
3. To kill many of one species of animal, with the intent of removing them from human habitats.

   Humans have been persecuting wolves in this forest for centuries.

• (beset with cruelty): oppress, harass, distress
• (annoy): see Thesaurus:annoy

• persecution
• English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *sekʷ-‎ (3 c, 0 e)

• “persecute”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /per.seˈkuː.te/, [pɛrs̠ɛˈkuːt̪ɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /per.seˈku.te/, [perseˈkuːt̪e]

persecūte

1. vocative masculine singular of persecūtus