persecuted

American  

[pur-si-kyoo-tid] / ˈpɜr sɪˌkyu 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

Etymology

Origin of persecuted

persecute ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

Example Sentences

Persecuted for their faith, many fled their homelands over the years, escaping genocide and war to arrive in safe countries like Australia.

From BBC • Apr. 17, 2024

Nemcova also co-founded the Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Persecuted, which supported those facing oppression by the state, from police harassment to unjust prosecution.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 11, 2023

Persecuted by the Nazis and carefully watched by the Communist secret police in the former East Germany, the group struggled for decades to be given equivalent status to Germany’s other religious communities.

From New York Times • Mar. 10, 2023

Museum of the Holocaust is staging an important exhibition entitled “Venerated, Persecuted, Forgotten: Victims of Nazism at FC Bayern Munich.”

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 3, 2019

“That is my least concern; I am, by a course of strange events, become the most miserable of mortals. Persecuted and tortured as I am and have been, can death be any evil to me?”

From "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley

Related Words

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