SG Heritage Dictionary

Prosecute [Verb transitive] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. To follow or pursue with a view to reach, execute or accomplish; to continue endeavors to obtain or complete; to continue efforts already begun; as, to prosecute a scheme; to prosecute an undertaking. The great canal in the State of New York has been prosecuted with success.

2. That which is morally good is to be desired and prosecuted.

3. This word signifies either to begin and carry on, or simply to continue what has been begun. When I say, 'I have devised a plan which I have not the courage or means to prosecute ' the word signifies to begin to execute. When we say, 'the nation began a war which it had not means to prosecute ' it signifies to continue to carry on. The latter is the genuine sense of the word, but both are well authorized. We prosecute any work of the hands or of the head. We prosecute a purpose, an enterprise, a work, studies, inquiries, etc.

4. To seek to obtain by legal process; as, to prosecute a right in a court of law.

5. To accuse of some crime or breach of law, or to pursue for redress or punishment, before a legal tribunal; as, to prosecute a man for trespass or for a riot. It is applied to civil suits for damages, as well as to criminal suits, but not to suits for debt. We never say, man prosecutes another on a bond or note, or in assumpsit; but he prosecutes his right or claim in an action of debt, detinue, trover or assumpsit. So we say, a man prosecutes another for assault and battery, for a libel or for slander, or for breaking his close. In these cases, prosecute signifies to begin and to continue a suit. The attorney general prosecutes offenders in the name of the king or of the state, by information or indictment.

6. Prosecute differs from persecute, as in law it is applied to legal proceedings only, whereas persecute implies cruelty, injustice or oppression.

Prosecute [Verb intransitive] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. To follow after.

2. To institute and carry on a legal prosecution; as, to prosecute for public offenses.

Prosecute [Verb transitive] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. To follow or pursue with a view to reach, execute, or accomplish; to endeavor to obtain or complete; to carry on; to continue; as, to prosecute a scheme, hope, or claim.

2. To seek to obtain by legal process; as, to prosecute a right or a claim in a court of law.

3. To pursue with the intention of punishing; to accuse of some crime or breach of law, or to pursue for redress or punishment, before a legal tribunal; to proceed against judicially; as, to prosecute a man for trespass, or for a riot.

Prosecuted [Participle passive] Webster's Dictionary 1828

Pursued, or begun and carried on for execution or accomplishment, as a scheme; pursued for redress or punishment in a court of law, as a person; demanded in law, as a right or claim.

Prosecuted [Imperfect tense and past participle] Webster's Dictionary 1913

of Prosecute

Pursuit Roget’s Thesaurus §622

N. pursuit, pursuing, prosecution, pursuance, enterprise, business, adventure, quest, scramble, hue and cry, game, hobby, still-hunt, chase, hunt, battue, race, steeple chase, hunting, coursing, venation, venery, fox chase, sport, sporting, shooting, angling, fishing, hawking, shikar, pursuer, hunter, huntsman, shikari, sportsman, nimrod, hound

V. pursue, prosecute, follow, run after, make after, be after, hunt after, prowl after, shadow, carry on, engage in, set about, endeavor, court seek, aim at, follow the trail, fish for, press on, run a race, chase, give chase, course, dog, hunt, hound, tread on the heels, follow on the heels of, &c. (sequence) 281, rush upon, rush headlong ride full tilt at, run full tilt at, make a leap at, jump at, snatch at run down, start game, tread a path, take a course, hold- a course, shape one's steps, direct one's steps, bend one's steps, course, play a game, fight one's way, elbow one's way, follow up, take to, take up, go in for, ride one's hobby

Adj. pursuing, in quest of in pursuit, in full cry, in hot pursuit, on the scent

Adv. in pursuance of, after

Int. tallyho, yoicks, soho

Action Roget’s Thesaurus §680

N. action, performance, doing, &c. v, perpetration, exercise, excitation, movement, operation, evolution, work, labor, praxis, execution, procedure, handicraft, business, agency, deed, act, overt act, stitch, touch, gest transaction, job, doings, dealings, proceeding, measure, step, maneuver, bout, passage, move, stroke, blow, coup, coup de main, coup d'etat, tour de force, feat, exploit, achievement, handiwork, workmanship, manufacture, stroke of policy, actor

V. do, perform, execute, achieve, transact, enact, commit, perpetrate, inflict, exercise, prosecute, carry on, work, practice, play, employ oneself, ply one's task, officiate, have in hand, labor, be at work, pursue a course, shape one's course, act, operate, take action, take steps, strike a blow, lift a finger, stretch forth one's hand, take in hand, put oneself in motion, put in practice, carry into execution, act upon, be an actor, take a part in, act a part in, play a part in, perform a part in, participate in, have a hand in, have a finger in the pie, have to do with, be a party to, be a participator in, bear a hand, lend a hand, pull an oar, run in a race, mix oneself up with, be in action, come into operation

Adj. doing, acting, in action, in harness, on duty, in operation

Adv. in the act, in the midst of, in the thick of, red-handed, in flagrante delicto, while one's hand is in

Phr. "action is eloquence", actions speak louder than words, actum aiunt ne agas, "awake, arise, or be forever fall'n", dii pia facta vident, faire sans dire, fare fac, fronte capillata post est occasio calva, "our deeds are sometimes better than our thoughts", "the great end of life is not knowledge but action", "thought is the soul of act", vivre-ce nest pas respirer c'est agir, "we live in deeds not years"

Accusation Roget’s Thesaurus §938

N. accusation, charge, imputation, slur, inculpation, exprobration, delation, crimination, incrimination, accrimination, recrimination, tu quoque argument, invective, denunciation, denouncement, libel, challenge, citation, arraignment, impeachment, appeachment, indictment, bill of indictment, true bill, lawsuit, condemnation, gravamen of a charge, head and front of one's offending, argumentum ad hominem, scandal, scandalum magnatum, accuser, prosecutor, plaintiff, relator, informer, appellant, accused, defendant, prisoner, perpetrator, panel, respondent, litigant

V. accuse, charge, tax, impute, twit, taunt with, reproach, brand with reproach, stigmatize, slur, cast a stone at, cast a slur on, incriminate, criminate, inculpate, implicate, call to account, take to blame, take to task, put in the black book, inform against, indict, denounce, arraign, impeach, appeach, have up, show up, pull up, challenge, cite, lodge a complaint, prosecute, bring an action against, blow upon, charge with, saddle with, lay to one's door, lay charge, lay the blame on, bring home to, cast in one's teeth, throw in one's teeth, cast the first stone at, have a rod in pickle for, keep a rod in pickle for, have a crow to pluck with, trump up a charge

Adj. accusing, accusatory, accusative, imputative, denunciatory, recriminatory, criminatory, accused, suspected, under suspicion, under a cloud, under surveillance, in custody, in detention, in the lockup, in the watch house, in the house of detention, accusable, imputable, indefensible, inexcusable, unpardonable, unjustifiable, vicious

Phr. "the breath of accusation kills an innocent name", "thou can'st not say i did it", 3, moral conditions

Int. look at home, tu quoque

Lawsuit Roget’s Thesaurus §969

N. lawsuit, suit, action, cause, litigation, suit in # law, dispute, citation, arraignment, prosecution, impeachment, accusation, presentment, true bill, indictment, apprehension, arrest, committal, imprisonment, writ, summons, subpoena, latitat, nisi prius, venire, venire facias pleadings, declaration, bill, claim, proces verbal, bill of right, information, corpus delicti, affidavit, state of facts, answer, reply, replication, plea, demurrer, rebutter, rejoinder, surrebutter, surrejoinder, suitor, party to a suit, plaintiff, defendant, litigant, hearing, trial, verdict, appeal, appeal motion, writ of error, certiorari, case, decision, precedent, decided case, reports (legal reference works, see reference books)

V. go to law, appeal to the law, bring to justice, bring to trial, bring to the bar, put on trial, pull up, accuse, prefer a claim, file a claim, take the law of, inform against, serve with a writ, cite, apprehend, arraign, sue, prosecute, bring an action against, indict, impeach, attach, distrain, commit, arrest, summon, summons, give in charge, empanel a jury, implead, join issue, close the pleadings, set down for hearing, try, hear a cause, sit in judgment, adjudicate

Adj. litigious, qui tam, coram judice, sub judice

Adv. pendente lite

Phr. adhuc sub judice lis est, accedas ad curiam, transeat in exemplum