perpetrate

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“
I speak not merely of obscurities, to perpetrate which is in every sense to stand in one's own light, but of sheer fatuities, tweakings-of-the-nose to our reverend mother-tongue, as either might have expressed it.

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Definitions (5)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. transitive verb To be responsible for; commit: perpetrate a crime; perpetrate a practical joke.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (2)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples

  • Feeling somewhat guilty and self-condemned at the thoughts of the treachery which he was about to perpetrate, he was little inclined to renew the recollection of the days when he was Pompey's friend. —  History of Julius Caesar
  • He didn't think about the fraud he was about to perpetrate, or he might have shown some sign that not all was correct. —  Storm Rising
  • The particular Doge who built this palazzo and summered here was a rather mischievous fellow, prone to donning his Bauta to go among the common folk and perpetrate - well, all manner of, er, indelicate activity. ' —  The Kaisho
  • I speak not merely of obscurities, to perpetrate which is in every sense to stand in one's own light, but of sheer fatuities, tweakings-of-the-nose to our reverend mother-tongue, as either might have expressed it. —  Without Prejudice
  • For whatso'er we perpetrate, —  VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol VI No 1
 

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Latin perpetrāre, perpetrāt-, to accomplish : per-, per- + patrāre, to bring about (from pater, father; see pəter- in Indo-European roots).

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Latin perpetratus, past participle of perpetrare, carry through (later Italian perpetrare = Spanish Portuguese perpetrar = French perpétrer), from per, through, + patrare, perform, akin to potis, able, potens, powerful: see potent.
 

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/ˈpərpətreɪt/
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