persecution
noun
Simple meaning
Cruel, unfair treatment of people because of who they are or what they believe.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
persuhkyooshuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
pɚsəkˈjuʃən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The act of persecuting, especially a specific group of people; an instance of persecution.
The act of persecuting (especially on the basis of race or religion)
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: The act of persecuting, especially a specific group of people; an instance of persecution.
Used this way, persecution is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use persecution
- “Throughout history, many groups have faced persecution because of their beliefs.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A delusion (common in paranoia) that others are out to get you and frustrate and embarrass you or inflict suffering on you.
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What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.