prosecution

English

Etymology

Equivalent to prosecute +‎ -ion, from Middle French prosecution, from Late Latin prōsecutio, from Latin prōsequor (“follow, pursue”), from pro- (“onward”) + sequor (“follow”) (English sequel). Compare persecution, and see more at prosecute.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌpɹɒs.ɪˈkjuː.ʃən/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˌpɹɑ.sɪˈkju.ʃən/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˌpɹɔs.ɪˈkjʉː.ʃən/, /ˌpɹɒs.ɪˈkjʉː.ʃən/

Noun

prosecution (countable and uncountable, plural prosecutions)

1. The act of prosecuting a scheme or endeavor.

   The prosecution of the war fell to Winston Churchill.

   Many apartheid perpetrators escaped prosecution for their persecution of black Africans and political dissidents.

2. (law) The institution of legal proceedings (particularly criminal) against a person.
   • 1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:

     Such a scandal as the prosecution of a brother for forgery—with a verdict of guilty—is a most truly horrible, deplorable, fatal thing. It takes the respectability out of a family perhaps at a critical moment, when the family is just assuming the robes of respectability: […] it is a black spot which all the soaps ever advertised could never wash off.

   • 1983 December 10, Larry Goldsmith, “Massachusetts Court Rules on Age of Consent”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 21, page 1:

     The justices declared that the statute does not establish a age of consent, and declared that in future prosecutions of persons charged with "indecent assault and battery" the state will have to prove that the alleged victim did not consent to the act.

3. (law) The prosecuting party.
   • 2012 August 21, Ed Pilkington, “Death penalty on trial: should Reggie Clemons live or die?”, in The Guardian:

     The prosecution case was that the men forced the sisters to strip, threw their clothes over the bridge, then raped them and participated in forcing them to jump into the river to their deaths. As he walked off the bridge, Clemons was alleged to have said: "We threw them off. Let's go."

4. (law) In many countries, a legal body and institution, usually part of the state apparatus, empowered to perform prosecution. Prosecutor's Office. See Prosecutor.

Derived terms

• criminal prosecution
• malicious prosecution
• prosecution association
• prosecution history

 

Related terms

• persecution
• prosecute
• sequence

Translations

the institution of legal proceedings against a person

• Arabic: مُقَاضَاة (ar) f (muqāḍāh), مُلَاحَقَة قَضَائِيَّة f (mulāḥaqa(t) qaḍāʔiyya)
• Catalan: persecució (ca) f
• Finnish: syyte (fi)
• French: parquet (fr) m
• German: Verfolgung (de) f (what they do), Strafverfolgung (de) f (criminal prosecution) strafrechtliche Verfolgung f (criminal prosecution)
• Hindi: महाभियोग (mahābhiyog)
• Italian: prosecuzione (it) f, azione penale f
• Japanese: 起訴 (ja) (きそ, kiso)
• Russian: обвине́ние (ru) n (obvinénije)
• Spanish: procesamiento m
• Swedish: åtal (sv) n

the prosecuting party of the institution of legal proceedings

• Belarusian: абвінава́чванне n (abvinaváčvannje)
• Bulgarian: прокуратура f (prokuratura), обвинение (bg) n (obvinenie)
• French: vindicte (fr) f
• German: verfolgende Behörde f, Strafverfolgungsbehörde (de) f (criminal prosecution)
• Hindi: अभियुक्त (hi) (abhiyukt)
• Japanese: 検察 (ja) (けんさつ, kensatsu)
• Polish: prokuratura (pl) f, strona oskarżająca f
• Russian: обвине́ние (ru) n (obvinénije), сторона́ обвине́ния f (storoná obvinénija)
• Spanish: acusación (es) f, fiscalía f
• Swedish: åklagarsidan c
• Ukrainian: обвинува́чення n (obvynuváčennja)

Prosecutor's Office

• Armenian: դատախազություն (hy) (dataxazutʻyun)
• Belarusian: пракурату́ра f (prakuratúra)
• Bulgarian: прокуратура f (prokuratura)
• Hindi: अभियोक्ता (hi) (abhiyoktā)
• Polish: prokuratura (pl) f
• Russian: прокурату́ра (ru) f (prokuratúra)
• Ukrainian: прокурату́ра f (prokuratúra)

Anagrams

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