persecutor

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per·se·cute

(pûr′sĭ-kyo͞ot′)

tr.v. per·se·cut·ed, per·se·cut·ing, per·se·cutes

1. To oppress or harass with ill-treatment, especially because of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or beliefs.

2. To annoy persistently; bother: persecuted the babysitter with foolish questions.

[Middle English, from Old French persecuter, back-formation from persecuteur, persecutor, from Late Latin persecūtor, from persecūtus, past participle of persequī, to persecute, from Latin, to pursue : per-, per- + sequī, to follow; see sek^w- in Indo-European roots.]

per′se·cu·tee′ (-kyo͞o-tē′) n.

per′se·cu′tive, per′se·cu·to′ry (-kyo͝o-tôr′ē, -kyo͞o′tə-rē) adj.

per′se·cu′tor n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun

persecutor - someone who torments

tormenter, tormentor

harasser - a persistent tormentor

oppressor - a person of authority who subjects others to undue pressures

blighter, cuss, gadfly, pesterer, pest - a persistently annoying person

tantaliser, tantalizer - someone who tantalizes; a tormentor who offers something desirable but keeps it just out of reach

witch-hunter - someone who identifies and punishes people for their opinions

Translations

مُضْطَهِد، ظالِم

-kapronásledovatel

forfølger

ofsækjandi

persecutor

[ˈpɜːsɪkjuːtəʳ] N → perseguidor(a) m/f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

persecutor

n → Verfolger(in) m(f)

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

persecutor

[ˈpɜːsɪkjuːtəʳ] n → persecutore/trice

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

persecute

(ˈpəːsikjuːt) verb

to make (someone) suffer, especially because of their opinions or beliefs. They were persecuted for their religion.

ˌperseˈcution noun

ˈpersecutor noun

Mentioned in ?

References in classic literature ?

Towards evening Fouquet wished to try the intentions of his persecutor. He ordered his rowers to pull towards the shore, as if to effect a landing.

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With the fiddles working themselves to the bone and the piano bounding under its persecutor's blows, Lady Wetherby ducked, side-stepped, rushed, and sprang, moving her arms in a manner that may have been classical Greek, but to the untrained eye looked much more like the last round of some open-air bout.

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I heard him fall heavily on the turf, and without looking behind me, I galloped off to the other end of the field; there I turned round and saw my persecutor slowly rising from the ground and going into the stable.

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It met its persecutor with a shriek, almost exactly like that of an angry virago.

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The children were amazed hear that the more the Quakers were scourged, and imprisoned, and banished, the more did the sect increase, both by the influx of strangers and by converts from among the Puritans, But Grandfather told them that God had put something into the soul of man, which always turned the cruelties of the persecutor to naught.

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Monsieur Darzac had sworn to silence her persecutor, even if he had to kill him.

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It was well known that the victim had recognized the bitterness of personal enmity in his persecutor's conduct towards him, and that he declared himself hunted to death for his spoil.

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But the night passed away without any fresh attempt on the part of my persecutor. Day came; the table had disappeared, only I had still the knife in my hand.

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From a mere sense of consistency, a persecutor is bound to show that the fallen man is a villain--otherwise he, the persecutor, is a wretch himself.

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The more his persecutor besought him not to trouble himself to turn out, the more suspicious was the crafty Wegg that indications had been observed of something hidden somewhere, and that attempts were on foot to circumvent him.

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The Goods wafted themselves to heaven and asked for a righteous vengeance on their persecutors. They entreated Jupiter that they might no longer be associated with the Ills, as they had nothing in common and could not live together, but were engaged in unceasing warfare; and that an indissoluble law might be laid down for their future protection.

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The victims of persecution had now turned persecutors on their own account, and persecutors of the most terrible description.