prosecution

Equivalent to prosecute +‎ -ion, from Middle French prosecution,^[1] from Late Latin prōsecutio, from Latin prōsequor (“follow, pursue”), from pro- (“onward”) + sequor (“follow”) (English sequel). Compare persecution, and see more at prosecute.

• IPA^(key): /ˌpɹɑ.səˈkju.ʃən/

• Audio (Southern England):

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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.

• persecution
• prosecute
• sequence

• point source