0 present participle of persecute
1 to treat someone unfairly or cruelly over a long period of time because of their race, religion, or political beliefs, or to annoy someone by refusing to leave them alone:
So why are we persecuting huntsmen and huntswomen?
Instead, they are harassing, persecuting and hounding the unemployed.
It is by attracting those who have capital and managerial and executive ability, encouraging them, instead of persecuting and vilifying them.
They should bring them back into use before persecuting people in the private sector.
I was accused of persecuting a railwayman's widow in just such circumstances as have been described.
They have thrived under persecution for the past 100 years, and we must be allowed to go on persecuting them—for their own enjoyment.
In my view speed enforcement is not about persecuting motorists, as some of the more extreme commentators suggest.
It makes them feel that the people who are persecuting them are their immediate enemies.