execute
[verb]
Synonyms:
- put to death, behead, electrocute, guillotine, hang, kill, shoot
- carry out, accomplish, administer, discharge, effect, enact, implement, perform, prosecute

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Related Idioms: put to death
Related Words: act, bring about, cause, carry out, complete, discharge, transact, dispatch, conduct, handle, put through, eliminate, purge

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English Thesaurus: assault, mugging, murder, homicide, rape, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

ex‧e‧cute /ˈeksəkjuːt, ˈeksɪkjuːt/ 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 Synonym : 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

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

execute
verb
I. kill sb as an official punishment
ADV. summarily | extrajudicially, illegally | publicly | wrongly innocent people who are wrongly executed
PREP. for He was executed for treason.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

execute
II. perform/carry out sth
ADV. beautifully, boldly, brilliantly, cleanly, meticulously, neatly, skilfully, successfully, well The movement was beautifully executed.
poorly

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

assault noun [uncountable and countable] the crime of physically attacking someone:
He was arrested for an assault on a policeman.
mugging noun [uncountable and countable] the crime of attacking and robbing someone in a public place:
Muggings usually happen at night.
murder noun [uncountable and countable] the crime of deliberately killing someone:
He is accused of the murder of five women.
homicide noun [uncountable and countable] especially American English law murder:
Homicide rates are rising fastest amongst 15 to19-year-olds.
rape noun [uncountable and countable] the crime of forcing someone to have sex:
In most cases of rape, the victim knows her attacker.
kill to make someone die:
The driver and his passenger were killed in the crash.
He was killed by rival gang members.
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.
St. George slew the dragon.
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.
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.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

kill to make someone die:
The driver and his passenger were killed in the crash.
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.
St. George slew the dragon.
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.
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.
commit suicide to kill yourself:
He committed suicide after the death of his girlfriend.
take your own life formal to kill yourself:
He had taken his own life while he was severely depressed.
They believe that it is a sin to take your own life.
massacre to kill a large number of people in a violent way:
Thousands of peaceful demonstrators were massacred by the soldiers.
slaughter to kill a large number of people in a violent way. Slaughter is also used about killing animals for food:
The army slaughtered thousands of civilians in an effort to stop the revolt.
The pigs were slaughtered on the farm.
exterminate to kill large numbers of a particular group, so that they no longer exist:
Hitler’s goal was to exterminate the Jews.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲