2020-11-27
ศัพท์ น่าสับสน ชุด P – per se & persecute & prosecute
แนะนำการใช้ ตามที่ส่วนใหญ่ใช้ แต่ละท้องถิ่น
ความหมาย อาจผันแปร ตาม ตำแหน่ง/หน้าที่ ในประโยค
Dictionary.com
ออกเสียง perse = ‘PURS’
ออกเสียง Per se = “pur-SEY’
ออกเสียง persecute = ‘PUR-si-kyoot’
ออกเสียง prosecute = ‘PROS-i-kyoot’
Dictionary.com
Perse - adj. = a very deep shade of blue or purple
Per se - adv. = intrinsically (in itself)
Dictionary.com
Perse
Did You Know?
We generally use per se todistinguish between something
in its narrow sense and some larger thing that it represents.
Thus, you may have no objection to educational testing per se,
but rather to the way testing is done.
An opposition party may attack a president's policy not because they dislike the policy per se but because they want to weaken the president. And when New York's police chief decided to crack down on small crimes, it wasn't the small crimes per se that were his target, but instead the larger crimes which he believed would be reduced because of this new approach.
Abused, Confused, & Misused Words by Mary Embree
Persecute =
hound; afflict; torture;
torment;
badger; bother: persecute the opposition
Not to be confused with:
prosecute – to institute legal proceedings against:
prosecute the suspect;
carry forward something begun: prosecute a war
Collins COBUILD English Usage
Persecute – prosecute
1. 'persecute'
To persecute someone means to continually treat them badly and make them suffer,
for example because of their political or religious beliefs.
Members of these sects are ruthlessly persecuted.
They claim that nobody is persecuted for religious belief.
2. 'prosecute'
To prosecute someone means to accuse them of a crime
and bring criminal charges against them.
He was prosecuted for drunken driving.
Trespassers will be prosecuted.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Choose the Right Synonym for persecute
WRONG, OPPRESS, PERSECUTE, AGGRIEVE
mean to injure unjustly or outrageously.
WRONG implies inflicting injury either unmerited or out of proportion to what one deserves. a penal system that had wronged him
OPPRESS suggests inhumane imposing of burdens one cannot endure or exacting more than one can perform. a people oppressed by a warmongering tyrant
PERSECUTE implies a relentless and unremitting subjection to annoyance or suffering. a child persecuted by constant criticism
AGGRIEVE implies suffering caused by an infringement or denial of rights. a legal aid society representing aggrieved minority groups
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Prosecute vs. Persecute
Take care to distinguish between prosecuted and persecuted,
although we sincerely hope that neither word applies to you.
Persecute typically has a small range of meanings,
such as “to harass or punish in a manner designed to injure, grieve, or afflict.”
Although the word is occasionally found in dialectal use to mean “prosecute,” many usage guides consider this to be an error.
Prosecute is generally found today in a legal context
(“to bring legal action against for redress or punishment of a crime or violation of law”),
although the word may also be used
to mean “to follow to the end” or “to engage in.”
If someone is prosecuted they are being tried in a court of law;
if they are persecuted they are being targeted and harassed.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Usage Notes
'Prosecute' vs. 'Persecute'
One you do in court, the other you do if you're a jerk
What to Know
Prosecute is most often used to refer to
bringing legal action against someone else,
and is related to the Latin word for "pursue."
It is often confused with persecute
which means "to harass, torment, or punish,
especially for one's beliefs.
"If you find yourself frequently on the wrong side of prosecution,
you might end up feeling persecuted.
Many of us have certain pairs of words which we on occasion find it difficult to distinguish between.
For some affect and effect are the troublesome duo,
while other people prefer somewhat more rarefied causes of confusion, such as exigent and exiguous.
Somewhere between these two in its frequency
is the case of prosecute and persecute.
Both words may be traced to similarLatin words; 'prosecute'
from 'prosequi' (“to pursue”),
and 'persecute' from 'persequi' (“to persecute”).
Let’s first look at the senses of these two words which are most often confused:
Prosecute - to bring legal action against for redress or punishment of a crime or violation of law.
Persecute - to harass or punish in a manner designed to injure, grieve, or afflict; specifically: to cause to suffer because of belief.
It is easy to see how these words might be confused
(and if you are one of those people who likes to scoff and loudly proclaim “anyone who can’t tell the difference between X and Y is not very intelligent,” please stop doing that, since it does not make you look smarter, kinder, or more interesting).
They are spelled and pronounced in similarfashion,
and each one refers to an action that
most people would very much prefer to not have happento them.
Prosecute vs Persecute Meaning
Both words may be traced to similar Latin words; prosecute from prosequi (“to pursue”), and persecute from persequi (“to persecute”),
and both appear to have entered the English language at about the same time, near the end of the 15th century.
The meaning of persecute (in its‘act like a complete jerk’ sense)
has been its predominant one since the beginning of the word’s use in English.
And by the space of four dayes vexid and troublid Crete in robbyng and shedyng the blood of the Cytezeyns, And he ne persecuted onely the men, but also women and chyldren and toke theyr goodes and departyd amonge them that helde on hys partye. — Raoul Lefèvre, Historyes of Troye, 1473
And we rede of the kynge Dauid that was first symple & one of the comyn peple that whan fortune had enhaunsed and sette hym in grete astate he lefte and forgate his god and fyll to aduoultrye and homicyde and other synnes than anon his owne sone Absalon assaylled & began to persecute hym. — Jacobus, To the Right Noble, Right Excellent Vertuous Prince George, 1474
Prosecute, on the other hand, entered our language
with a meaning that, although still current, has been supereseded by the legal sense.
This meaning is “to follow to the end, to press to execution or completion.”
To the whiche lerned men and vniuersities determination (as a prince moste iuste and irtuous) he alwey offered hym selfe to stande and abyde, and accordynge therto hath nowe prosecuted his cause. — Thomas Swinnerton, A Litel Treatise Ageynste the Mutterynge of Some Papistis in Corners, 1534
There are similar non-legal senses of prosecute which are in common use today,
such as the recent case of the word
being employed with the meaning of “to engage in or proceed with.”
It feels to me that Saudi Arabia is being allowed to prosecute the war in this way because of the perceived threat from Iran. — Lisa O’Kelly, _The Observer (London, Eng.), 3 Dec. 2017
It is not very difficult to find each of these words used in edited prose where the other one would perhaps be more applicable.
In the past two months, some 50 persons have been persecuted on criminal charges arising from the boycott. — The Delta Democrat-Times (Greenville, MS), 24 May 1959
Anyway, the reason all us farmers feel prosecuted is the fact that the middleman has got us by the scruff and keeps shaking until the last farthing has fallen from our toil-worn hands. — The Journal Times (Racine, WI), 19 Nov. 1964
However, it should be noted that many dictionaries
do include a sense of persecute (generally labelled ‘dialectal’ or ‘regional’) which is defined as “to prosecute at law.”
And there are circumstances in which phrases
such as “persecuted criminals” will make sense,
as in the following sarcastic comment found in The Chicago Tribune.
And it may be that the Supreme Court, in its love for technicalities and its fear lest the poor, oppressed, persecuted criminals may come to grief, will reverse on account of those remarks. — The Chicago Tribune, 30 Jan. 1895
Tips for Keeping Them Separate
When using these words in a legal sense,
or to refer to oppression of some kind
you would do well to distinguish between them,
reserving prosecute for thejudicial role,
and persecute for the act oftormenting or oppressing.
If you are one of those who
has trouble distinguishing between these words
we are sorry to say that your problem is not yetcommon enough
to have warranted any well-known mnemonics.
If there's nothing on television tonight, maybe this is an opportunity to spend a fun and productive three hours coming up with your own ways of remembering (perhaps ... ‘One feels persecuted, since the Es in feel match the initial E in persecute’; ‘One generally wants a pro to be the prosecutor’). Ok, maybe three hours won’t be necessary… give yourself five minutes and you should be able to come up with some that are better than those.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Persecute/Prosecute
Question:
Does the manager persecute or prosecute the employees?
Answer:
persecute
How to remember it:
To prosecute someone you need a legal process,
something most managers don't have.
To persecute is to harass people or treat them unfairly or cruelly.
Not surprisingly, given these words' similar meanings and spellings,
persecute and prosecute share an ancestor: they both come from a Latin word meaning "to pursue."
Common Errors In English Usage Dictionary
Perse
This legal term (meaning “in, of, or by itself”)
is a bit pretentious,
but you gain little respect if you misspell “per se” as a single word.
Worse is the mistaken “per say.”
Common Errors In English Usage Dictionary
Persecute
When you persecute someone,
you’re treating them badly,
whether they deserve it or not;
but only legal officers can prosecute someone for a crime.
Dictionary of Problem Words and Expression
Persecute & prosecute
These “look-alikes” have related but differentmeanings,
To persecute is to harass, to torment, to treat badly, to bother, to worry, to oppress, to trouble:
“Some teen-agers feel that their parents persecute them.”
“Businessmen sometimes think that government agencies are set up solely to persecute them.
Prosecute, primarily a legal term,
means
“to seek, force, or obtain a legal process,”
“to start or conduct legal proceeding against.”
It also means “to carry forward some action already begun.”
If you commit theft and are caught, you will be prosecuted.”
“Now that war has begun, the government will prosecute it vigorously.”
