How to use prosecute in a sentence
32 example sentences · verb
Prosecute means to start criminal proceedings against. Example: “The prosecuting attorney was concerned about the potential disappearance of witnesses.”
Examples of prosecute by meaning
verbTo start criminal proceedings against.
- to prosecute a man for trespass, or for a riot
verbTo seek to obtain by legal process.
- to prosecute a right or a claim in a court of law
verbTo pursue something to the end.
- to prosecute a scheme, hope, or an investigation
- Nor do we believe that a country that prosecuted two wars in China in the 19th century to force the Chinese to accept opium imports has any moral right to lecture Asians on drugs.2022 October 22, “Ministry of Home Affairs' Response to Sir Richard Branson's Blog Post on 10 October 2022”, in Ministry of Home Affairs...
More sentences with prosecute
- The prosecuting attorney was concerned about the potential disappearance of witnesses.From the entry disappearance
- Ruth was prosecuted for involuntary manslaughter after she hit Tony with a car.From the entry involuntary manslaughter
- She had tattoos the full length of her arms. He was prosecuted to the full extent of the law.From the entry full
- She famously could not drive, but she introduced the breathalyser test to prosecute drunks who tried to.2025 November 26, Howard Johnston, “Top 10: Influential ministers: Barbara Castle 1965-68”, in RAIL, number 1049, page 61. From the entry drunk
- Trump’s remarkable public demand last Saturday that Attorney General Pam Bondi move quickly to prosecute his enemies.2025 September 27, “Inside the Trump Administration’s Push to Prosecute James Comey”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York…. From the entry fever pitch
- Statutory exclusion laws allow politicians, not judges, to decide which violent juveniles should be prosecuted by the criminal court.2009, Kären M. Hess, Juvenile Justice, →ISBN, page 324. From the entry statutory exclusion
- Child-abuse scandals are prosecuted and misprosecuted with almost Salem-witch-trial fervor.2004, David Brooks, On Paradise Drive, page 137. From the entry misprosecute
- He also reiterated that all IIs caught will be repatriated immediately, and their aidors and abettors prosecuted accordingly.1999 March 2, “Truck Driver Arrested for Arranging IIs to Hong Kong”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name). From the entry II
- Police officers and prosecutors were forced to spend sizeable proportions of their capacity on arresting and prosecuting faredodgers.1995, Changes in Society, Crime and Criminal Justice in Europe. From the entry fare dodger
- Gin burglars who sneak in looking for lubras are prosecuted.1964, Keith Willey, Eaters of the Lotus, page 150. From the entry gin burglar
- The accessories may be prosecuted, tried and punished, though the principal has not been prosecuted or has been acquitted.1915, Eugene Allen Gilmore, Wiliam Charles Wermuth, Modern American Law, page 125. From the entry principal
- The strike is being prosecuted so successfully that the M. and M. are driven to their wits' end.1911 May, “A Letter from the South. Contributed by Los Angeles Strike Committee.”, in Jas. W. Kline, editor, The Blacksmiths Journal…. From the entry freedomite
- The increased surveillance and securitization of occupied Ukraine is likely intended to encourage self-censorship and facilitate Russian occupation authorities' efforts to prosecute perceived anti-Russian sentiment.2025 April 21, Karolina Hird, “Russian Occupation Update, April 21, 2025”, in Ukraine Project, Institute for the Study of War. From the entry securitization
- Addressing, much less prosecuting, familiar fraud is difficult because victims often don't want to hurt the fraudster but then wind up with the financial loss.2019 March 18, Tom Groenfeldt, “Credit Card Fraud Is Down, But Account Fraud That Directly Hurts Consumers Remains High”, in Forbes…. From the entry familiar fraud
- As president he sets priorities for the executive branch, which cannot catch and prosecute everyone who breaks any of the gazillions of federal rules.2014 February 8, Schumpeter, “Barack Obama, deporter-in-chief”, in The Economist, volume 410, number 8873. From the entry gazillion
- They find the human moral concepts of "do not fire until fired upon" and "declare a war before prosecuting it" incredibly naive.2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Salarians: Military Doctrine Codex entry. From the entry preemptive strike
- Higher rank officers in New York advocated that those officers who testilied should not be prosecuted because testilying was a police tradition.2007, Jack R. Greene, “Courtroom testimony and ‘testilying’”, in The Encyclopedia of Police Science, volume 1, page 274. From the entry testilie
- Even if they did decide to prosecute, the Justice Department would have to take a number and stand in a very long line.2000 August 8, Tony Karon, “Chile Exorcises the Specter of Pinochet”, in Time. From the entry take a number
- Word reached the ear of the prosecuting attorney of the only testimony that could establish a motive and make the crime a hanging offence.1908, John Fox Jr., chapter 26, in The Trail of the Lonesome Pine. From the entry hanging offence
- We will prosecute our investigations together.1906, Arthur Quiller-Couch, chapter 17, in The Mayor of Troy. From the entry two heads are better than one
- Most US states still have laws against consensual incest (consanguinamory), and in most of them, people do continue to be prosecuted for simply loving each other.2012 September 11, “Hollywood director places incest alongside gay marriage”, in San Diego LGBT Weekly. From the entry consanguinamory
- In the criminal justice system, the People are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: the police, who investigate crime, and the district attorneys, who prosecute the offenders.1990 Sept. 13, David Black & al., "Prescription for Death", Law & Order, 00:00:01. From the entry police
- Hence the strenuousness with which they prosecuted this case — using a law which has, for some years, been condemned by many British legal authorities as unsafe and undesirable.1981 February 14, Roger Moody, “Retrial for PIE Defendants”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 29, page 4. From the entry strenuousness
- Many reforms are actually pseudoreforms; the state prosecutes those among its own personnel guilty of wanton brutality and violence without addressing the structural roots of this type of behavior.1981, Social Research, volume 48, page 154. From the entry pseudoreform
- In the last phases of brainwashing and menticide, the self-humiliating submission of the victims serves as an inner defensive device annihilating the prosecuting inquisitor in a magic way.1957, Joost Abraham Maurits Meerloo, Mental Seduction and Menticide: The Psychology of Thought Control and Brainwashing, London: Jonathan…. From the entry menticide
- As a lawyer, I can only say that I have consistently refused to defend a blackmailer or to prosecute any poor devil who does away with his tormentor.”1928, Dorothy L. Sayers, The Unprincipled Affair of the Practical Joker, spoken by Sir Impey Biggs. From the entry blackmailer
- The Fifth Amendment will simply prevent West Carolina from using those records or any information derived from them to prosecute the sole proprietors who are required to keep the records.2015, William F. Funk, Richard H. Seamon, Examples & Explanations for Administrative Law, →ISBN. From the entry West Carolina
- All carnivals, circusses, etc., were kept under observation during their stay in the Province, and a number of objectionable features eliminated, gambling outfits seized, and the operators prosecuted and convicted.1930, Sessional Papers - Legislature of the Province of Ontario, volume 5, page 13. From the entry circusses
Meaning of prosecute
- verb To start criminal proceedings against.
- verb To charge, try.
- verb To seek to obtain by legal process.
Questions about prosecute in a sentence
- How do you use prosecute in a sentence?
- Prosecute is used as a verb. For example: “The prosecuting attorney was concerned about the potential disappearance of witnesses.”
- What is a short sentence with prosecute?
- “We will prosecute our investigations together.”
- What does prosecute mean?
- Prosecute means to start criminal proceedings against.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: prosecute (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “How to use prosecute in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/prosecute. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
