ex ‧ e ‧ cute /ˈeksəkjuːt, ˈeksɪkjuːt/ BrE AmE verb [transitive]
[ Date: 1300-1400 ; Language: French ; Origin: exécuter , from Latin exsecutus , past participle of exsequi 'to execute' , from sequi 'to follow' ]
1 . KILL SOMEBODY to kill someone, especially legally as a punishment
execute somebody for something
Thousands have been executed for political crimes.
13 people were summarily executed (=killed without any trial or legal process) by the guerrillas.
2 . DO SOMETHING formal to do something that has been carefully planned SYN implement :
The job involves drawing up and executing a plan of nursing care.
3 . PERFORM AN ACTION formal to perform a difficult action or movement
beautifully/skilfully/poorly etc executed
The skaters’ routine was perfectly executed.
4 . COMPUTER technical if a computer executes a program or ↑ command (=instruction) , it makes the program or command happen or work
5 . LEGAL DOCUMENT law to make sure that the instructions in a legal document are followed
6 . PRODUCE SOMETHING formal to produce a painting, book, film etc:
a boldly executed story
• • •
THESAURUS
▪ kill to make someone die:
The driver and his passenger were killed in the crash.
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He was killed by rival gang members.
▪ murder to deliberately kill someone – used when talking about this as a crime:
He was convicted of murdering his wife.
▪ commit manslaughter to kill someone without intending to – used when talking about this as a crime:
The court ruled that the guard had committed manslaughter.
▪ assassinate to deliberately kill an important person, especially a politician:
He was part of a plot to assassinate Hitler.
▪ slay to kill someone or something in a violent way – used in newspaper reports and also in old stories:
Two teenagers were slain in the shootings.
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St. George slew the dragon.
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The king was slain at the battle of Hastings.
▪ execute formal ( also put somebody to death ) to kill someone as a punishment for a crime:
McVeigh, who killed 168 people in a bombing attack, was executed by lethal injection.
▪ eliminate to kill someone in order to prevent them from causing trouble:
a ruthless dictator who eliminated all his rivals
▪ take somebody out informal to kill someone in order to get rid of them, especially an enemy or someone who is causing trouble for you:
US forces used air strikes to take out the enemy positions.
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One of the other drug dealers may have decided to take him out.
▪ bump somebody off humorous informal to kill someone:
He was so irritating I felt like bumping him off myself.
▪ do away with somebody informal to kill someone:
The settlers in Jamestown had been done away with, but no one knew how.