execute
[ek-si-kyoot]
- to carry out; accomplish: to execute a plan or order.
- to perform or do: to execute a maneuver; to execute a gymnastic feat.
- to inflict capital punishment on; put to death according to law.
- to murder; assassinate.
- to produce in accordance with a plan or design: a painting executed by an unknown artist.
- to perform or play (a piece of music).
- Law.
- to give effect or force to (a law, decree, judicial sentence, etc.).
- to carry out the terms of (a will).
- to transact or carry through (a contract, mortgage, etc.) in the manner prescribed by law; complete and give validity to (a legal instrument) by fulfilling the legal requirements, as by signing or sealing.
- Computers. to run (a program or routine) or to carry out (an instruction in a program).
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- to perform or accomplish something, as an assigned task.
- Sports. to perform properly the fundamental moves or mechanics of a sport, game, position, or particular play; show smoothness in necessary skills: We just didn't execute defensively.
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Origin of execute
Synonym study
Synonyms
See more synonyms for execute on Thesaurus.com1. achieve, complete, finish, consummate. 7a. enforce, administer.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for executed
Contemporary Examples
Yet the email references the 1970s, “when police officers were ambushed and executed on a regular basis.”
The families had gathered that Sunday to remember Ali Bazzal, a soldier whom the Nusra Front declared they had executed on Dec. 6.
Last week, Robert Wayne Holsey of Georgia and Paul Goodwin of Missouri were executed within just a few hours of each other.
Despite Atkins, people with IQs lower than 70 have since been executed.
The way it was executed was maybe not satisfying to people, and it was in no way tied up in a bow.
Michael C. Hall on Going Drag for ‘Hedwig and the Angry Inch’ and Exorcising ‘Dexter’Marlow Stern
December 4, 2014
Historical Examples
Their hands were tied and they were to be executed in a few moments.
Ancient ManHendrik Willem van Loon
The national verdict of 1896 has for the most part been executed.
His proposal was received with acclamations, and executed with the swiftness of thought.
The Last of the MohicansJames Fenimore Cooper
Wills and other private deeds may of course be executed by phonograph.
Heroes of the TelegraphJ. Munro
Tawell was executed, and the notoriety of the case brought the telegraph into repute.
Heroes of the TelegraphJ. Munro
execute
- to put (a condemned person) to death; inflict capital punishment upon
- to carry out; complete; perform; doto execute an order
- to perform; accomplish; effectto execute a pirouette
- to make or produceto execute a drawing
- to carry into effect (a judicial sentence, the law, etc); enforce
- law to comply with legal formalities in order to render (a deed, etc) effective, as by signing, sealing, and delivering
- to sign (a will) in the presence of witnesses and in accordance with other legal formalities
- to carry out the terms of (a contract, will, etc)
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Word Origin
C14: from Old French executer, back formation from executeur executor
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for executed
execute
v.
late 14c., "to carry into effect," from Old French executer (14c.), from Medieval Latin executare, from Latin execut-/exsecut-, past participle stem of exequi/exsequi "to follow out" (see execution). Meaning "to inflict capital punishment" is from late 15c. Related: Executed; executing.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper