Persecution

Pronunciation

Origin

From Late Latin persecūtio ("chase, pursuit"), from Latin persequor ("follow up, pursue"), from -("through") + sequor("follow").

Full definition of persecution

Noun

1. The act of persecuting.
2. A program or campaign to subjugate or eliminate a specific group of people, often based on race, religion, sexuality, or social beliefs.
• 2012, Jan Sapp, Race Finished, Few concepts are as emotionally charged as that of race. The word conjures up a mixture of associations—culture, ethnicity, genetics, subjugation, exclusion and persecution. But is the tragic history of efforts to define groups of people by race really a matter of the misuse of science, the abuse of a valid biological concept?