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Webster 1913 Edition


Persecution

Perˊse-cu′tion

,
Noun.
[F.
persécution
, L.
persecutio
.]
1.
The act or practice of persecuting; especially, the infliction of loss, pain, or death for adherence to a particular creed or mode of worship.
Persecution
produces no sincere conviction.
Paley.
2.
The state or condition of being persecuted.
Locke.
3.
A carrying on; prosecution.
[Obs.]

Webster 1828 Edition


Persecution

PERSECU'TION

,
Noun.
The act or practice of persecuting; the infliction of pain, punishment or death upon others unjustly, particularly for adhering to a religious creed or mode of worship, either by way of penalty or for compelling them to renounce their principles. Historians enumerate ten persecutions suffered by the Christians, beginning with that of Nero, A.D. 31, and ending with that of Diocletian, A.D. 303 to 313.
1.
The state of being persecuted.
Our necks are under persecution; we labor and have no rest. Lam.5.

Definition 2024


persecution

persecution

See also: persécution

English

Noun

persecution (uncountable)

  1. The act of persecuting.
  2. A program or campaign to subjugate or eliminate a specific group of people, often based on race, religion, sexuality, or social beliefs.
    • 2012 March-April, Jan Sapp, “Race Finished”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 164:
      Few concepts are as emotionally charged as that of race. The word conjures up a mixture of associations—culture, ethnicity, genetics, subjugation, exclusion and persecution. But is the tragic history of efforts to define groups of people by race really a matter of the misuse of science, the abuse of a valid biological concept?

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