execute.
To kill, especially as punishment for a capital crime.
Meaning & usage
To kill, especially as punishment for a capital crime.
There are certain states where it is lawful to execute prisoners convicted of certain crimes.
According to international treaties, it is illegal to execute prisoners of war.
To carry out; to put into effect.
Your orders have been executed, sir!
I'll execute your orders as soon as this meeting is adjourned.
To perform.
to execute a difficult piece of music brilliantly
to execute a turn in ballet
To carry out, to perform an act; to put into effect or cause to become legally binding or valid (as a contract) by so doing.
to execute a contract
To start, launch, or run.
to execute a program
To run, usually successfully.
The program executed, but data problems were discovered.
Where this word comes from
From Old French executer (French exécuter), from Latin exsecutus, past participle of exsequor (“to follow (up/through)”, particularly in the sense “to go through with a deed or punishment”), from ex- (“out”) + sequor (“to follow”).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.