Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To be responsible for; commit: perpetrate a crime; perpetrate a practical joke.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To do execute, or perform; commit: generally in a bad sense: as, to perpetrate a crime.
- To produce, as something execrable or shocking; perform (something) in an execrable or shocking way: as, to perpetrate a pun.
Wiktionary
- v. transitive To be guilty of, or responsible for a crime etc; to commit.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To do or perform; to carry through; to execute, commonly in a bad sense; to commit (as a crime, an offense); to be guilty of.
WordNet 3.0
- v. perform an act, usually with a negative connotation
Etymologies
- From Latin perpetratus, past participle of perpetrare ("to carry through"), from per ("through") + patrare ("to perform"), akin to potis ("able"), potens ("powerful"); see potent. (Wiktionary)
- Latin perpetrāre, perpetrāt-, to accomplish : per-, per- + patrāre, to bring about (from pater, father; see pəter- in Indo-European roots). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“What a comment on our culture when people "perpetrate" themselves in order to claim victimhod.”
“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.”
“Do you actually suggest that one is obliged to imagine all the specific violations that all organizations might perpetrate against them, and then go searching the internet to see if that particular violation has already be found out?”
Verizon Data-Sharing Hysteria Points to Larger Privacy Issues
“The cyberpunk is usually an outsider * not* of his/her own choosing, but because the structure of society is inherently unfair and favors the rich (who usually have to intentionally buy into or perpetrate the evils of society to get that way, ala the Bush Administration or, well, the 80s, when the genre was at its height.)”
“An article in Popular Mechanics suggests some historical absurdities which future authors may attempt to perpetrate on the gullible public.”
“House of Representatives and pretty much misrepresented her and any resident of his district sociallly to the left of Savanarola while helping to perpetrate the now-classic Reaganite Republican big con of voting for tax cuts for the rich and policies that screwed over the working class residents of his district whose interests, he swore, he was protecting by selling them out.”
“When we don't, we either ignore injustice or perpetrate injustice because the victims are not seen as humans, but rather as what Martin Buber called "it.”
“Ten years after the scandal erupted, clergy sexual abuse has been reported everywhere from Austria to Australia, and while it remains the case that only a small percentage of Christian clergy perpetrate sexual abuse, the effects of this small number of individuals is felt, at some level, by every Christian and by clergy trying to understand what the scandal means for them as leaders.”
The Huffington Post: Danielle Tumminio: 10 Years Later: Clergy Response To The Sex Abuse Scandal
“The lies you try to perpetrate are clear testimony to the vehemence of the condemnation that America deserves for committing that crime, and for reserving the right and means to commit that crime again. shocked at stupidity”
“They are the places where we live, grow, change, perpetrate our values, desires and dreams.”
The Huffington Post: Tracey Harnish: Devastation of the American Dream
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘perpetrate’.
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1100
abound, technology, branch of knowled..., prognosticate, automaton, matron, an older married ..., realm, special field of ..., kingdom, annals, historical records and 981 more...
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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EN - eloquence in public speaking
Key words from "The Training of a Public Speaker" by Grenville Kleiser (New York and London, 1920)
beget, imago, approbation, orator, peroration, Cicero, eloquence, elocution, rhetoric, premeditate, plead, Isocrates and 264 more...
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LIT - Odyssey - key words and phrases
Key words of the Odyssey by Homer in English including all those famous repeating epitethons like
"bright-eyed Athene"
"wine-dark sea"
"rosy-fingered dawn"
"long suf...yearling, wild celery, Wain, Themis, talon, slither, sedge, sea eagle, scurf, rile, prevaricate, poplar tree and 732 more...
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Words for Anna
exacerbate, pixilate, obviate, placate, titilate, interpolate, perambulate, vacillate, abnegate, indignant, perpetrate, conjure and 7 more...
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GRE 1100
drudgery, implore, hapless, nuance, wrest, incipient, inadvertent, tremulous, bristle, euphemism, disdain, pugnacious and 346 more...
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words unknown
repeat!!!
laissez faire, propensity, punitive, explicit, whim, extenuating, distort, gross, grossly, hearsay, dispel, apprehensive and 113 more...
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My preparation
for GRE ofcourse
morbid, disparate, incipient, exonerate, engross, ebullient, predilection, propensity, allure, qualms, chastise, perpetuate and 111 more...
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Vocab
Words that I come across, and go blank, or want to clarify.
nefarious, edifice, malevolent, ostensible, folderol, bauble, livid, amnesty, calculus, saddlery, maisonette, cuisse and 423 more...
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GRE
high frequent
industrious, feckless, debunk, quintessence, loquacious, obsequious, laconic, plethora, lugubrious, serendipity, facetious, turgid and 261 more...
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Reading Random
Got unknown words randomly
delinquency, modicum, dissuade, incendiary, destitute, lachrymose, plight, ruse, empirical, pedantic, demography, giggle and 444 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, P
pellucid, pertain, pampas, prate, pinecone, philistine, pantocrator, papaverine, postmeridian, potlatch, pharology, pinniped and 622 more...
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ash
ash
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
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Watchmen (2009)
Words from 2009 'Watchmen' film.
adversary, certitude, deterrent, stockpile, posturing, minuteman, vigilante, toss, flip, spook, carcass, tread and 174 more...
Tweets
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