Library / English Dictionary

EXECUTE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Sign in the presence of witnesses

Example:

The President executed the treaty

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "execute" is one way to...):

sign (be engaged by a written agreement)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Put in effect

Example:

He actioned the operation

Synonyms:

accomplish; action; carry out; carry through; execute; fulfil; fulfill

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "execute" is one way to...):

complete; finish (come or bring to a finish or an end)

effect; effectuate; set up (produce)

Verb group:

carry out; follow out; follow through; follow up; go through with; implement; put through (pursue to a conclusion or bring to a successful issue)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "execute"):

get over (to bring (a necessary but unpleasant task) to an end)

run (carry out)

consummate (make perfect; bring to perfection)

consummate (fulfill sexually)

do; perform (get (something) done)

complete; discharge; dispatch (complete or carry out)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

execution (the act of accomplishing some aim or executing some order)

executive (having the function of carrying out plans or orders etc.)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Carry out or perform an action

Example:

she did a little dance

Synonyms:

do; execute; perform

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "execute"):

make (perform or carry out)

conduct; direct; lead (lead, as in the performance of a composition)

interpret; render (give an interpretation or rendition of)

ad-lib; extemporise; extemporize; improvise; improvize (perform without preparation)

practice; practise; rehearse (engage in a rehearsal (of))

appear (appear as a character on stage or appear in a play, etc.)

star (be the star in a performance)

premier; premiere (perform a work for the first time)

churn out (perform in a mechanical way)

scamp (perform hastily and carelessly)

blaze away (perform (an acting passage) brilliantly and rapidly)

cut (perform or carry out)

stunt (perform a stunt or stunts)

cut corners (do something the cheapest or easiest way)

serenade (sing and play for somebody)

declaim; recite (recite in elocution)

pipe up (begin to play or sing)

carry (sing or play against other voices or parts)

click off (perform or finish an action rapidly)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

executant (a performer (usually of musical works))

execution (the act of performing; of doing something successfully; using knowledge as distinguished from merely possessing it)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Kill as a means of socially sanctioned punishment

Example:

In some states, criminals are executed

Synonyms:

execute; put to death

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "execute" is one way to...):

kill (cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly)

penalise; penalize; punish (impose a penalty on; inflict punishment on)

Verb group:

execute (murder in a planned fashion)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "execute"):

crucify (kill by nailing onto a cross)

burn (execute by tying to a stake and setting alight)

hang; string up (kill by hanging)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

They want to execute the prisoners

Derivation:

executing; execution (putting a condemned person to death)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Murder in a planned fashion

Example:

The Mafioso who collaborated with the police was executed

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "execute" is one way to...):

bump off; dispatch; hit; murder; off; polish off; remove; slay (kill intentionally and with premeditation)

Verb group:

execute; put to death (kill as a means of socially sanctioned punishment)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

execution (unlawful premeditated killing of a human being by a human being)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Carry out a process or program, as on a computer or a machine

Example:

the computer executed the instruction

Synonyms:

execute; run

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "execute" is one way to...):

apply; enforce; implement (ensure observance of laws and rules)

Verb group:

play; run (cause to emit recorded audio or video)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "execute"):

step (cause (a computer) to execute a single command)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

executive (having the function of carrying out plans or orders etc.)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Carry out the legalities of

Example:

execute a will or a deed

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "execute" is one way to...):

apply; enforce; implement (ensure observance of laws and rules)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "execute"):

give (execute and deliver)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

execution ((law) the completion of a legal instrument (such as a contract or deed) by signing it (and perhaps sealing and delivering it) so that it becomes legally binding and enforceable)

executive (having the function of carrying out plans or orders etc.)

executor (a person appointed by a testator to carry out the terms of the will)

Credits

 Context examples: 

At four o'clock he executed a running jump, gained the roof of the chicken-house and leaped to the ground outside, whence he sauntered gravely to the house.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

My imagination was vivid, yet my powers of analysis and application were intense; by the union of these qualities I conceived the idea and executed the creation of a man.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

My plan was laid at Westminster, a little altered, perhaps, at Cambridge, and at one-and-twenty executed.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Might he be trusted with the commission, what infinite pleasure should he have in executing it! he could ride to London at any time.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Executed and carried through to completion.

(Performed, NCI Thesaurus)

I'll give him a hearty scolding and bring him over to beg pardon, cried Jo, burning to execute immediate justice.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

A type of Phase III trial executed near the time of approval to elicit additional findings.

(Phase IIIb Trial, NCI Thesaurus)

The Office of Administrative Management, develops and executes the administrative, fiscal, and management aspects of (institute) programs.

(Office of Administrative Management, NCI Thesaurus)

I desire his safe custody in order that this matter may be cleared up, and I call upon you, as a magistrate, to execute your warrant.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This will allow a novel type of personalised and efficient healthcare, allowing us to 'download' a sequence of actions into cells, instructing them to execute complex decisions encoded in the RNA.

(Cells Programmed Like Computers to Fight Disease, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)