Showing results for "persecuted"

• past tense form of persecute.
• past participle of persecute.

persecuted

American  

[pur-si-kyoo-tid] / ˈpɜr sɪˌkju tɪd /

adjective

1. persistently harassed or oppressed, especially because of religious or political beliefs, ethnic or racial origin, gender identity, or sexual orientation.

   Having been raised in a frequently persecuted faith, the idea of any state religion makes me very nervous.

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verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of persecute.

Other Word Forms

• unpersecuted
  adjective

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Etymology

Origin of persecuted

persecute ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

persecuted

The administration says it seeks assurances from those countries that the deported persons will not be not be abused or persecuted, but it refuses hearings for individuals.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2026

And a Black athlete empowered to stand for Black people is an athlete who should expect to be persecuted, like Curt Flood, whom Kaepernick mentioned.

From Salon ● Sep. 29, 2026

The species were persecuted to extinction as a breeding bird in the early 20th Century but returned to Scotland in the 1950s and have now recolonised other parts of the UK.

From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026

Even after 1964, when Leonid Brezhnev halted reforms, persecuted dissidents and presided over what came to be regarded as “the era of stagnation,” the arbitrary arrests of millions did not resume.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026

This would be our first encounter with people who had been persecuted in Bosnia.

From "The Freedom Writers Diary" by The Freedom Writers

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Related Words

• abused
• destitute
• distressed
• enslaved
• exploited
• helpless

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