Adjacent Words

Execution definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

EXECU'TION, n. Performance; the act of completing or accomplishing.
The excellence of the subject contributed much to the happiness of the execution.
1. In law, the carrying into effect a sentence or judgment of court; the last act of the law in completing the process by which justice is to be done, by which the possession of land or debt, damages or cost, is obtained, or by which judicial punishment is inflicted.
2. The instrument, warrant or official order, by which an officer is empowered to carry a judgment into effect. An execution issues from the clerk of a court, and is levied by a sheriff, his deputy or a constable, on the estate, goods or body of the debtor.
3. The act of signing and sealing a legal instrument, or giving it the forms required to render it a valid act; as the execution of a deed.
4. The last act of the law in the punishment of criminals; capital punishment; death inflicted according to the forms of law.
5. Effect; something done or accomplished.
Every shot did execution.
6. Destruction; slaughter.
It is used after do, to do execution; never after make.
7. Performance, as in music or other art.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: putting a condemned person to death [syn: execution, executing, capital punishment, death penalty]
2: the act of performing; of doing something successfully; using knowledge as distinguished from merely possessing it; "they criticised his performance as mayor"; "experience generally improves performance" [syn: performance, execution, carrying out, carrying into action]
3: (computer science) the process of carrying out an instruction by a computer [syn: execution, instruction execution]
4: (law) the completion of a legal instrument (such as a contract or deed) by signing it (and perhaps sealing and delivering it) so that it becomes legally binding and enforceable [syn: execution, execution of instrument]
5: a routine court order that attempts to enforce the judgment that has been granted to a plaintiff by authorizing a sheriff to carry it out [syn: execution, writ of execution]
6: the act of accomplishing some aim or executing some order; "the agency was created for the implementation of the policy" [syn: execution, implementation, carrying out]
7: unlawful premeditated killing of a human being by a human being [syn: murder, slaying, execution]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English execucion, from Anglo-French, from Latin exsecution-, exsecutio, from exsequi to execute, from ex- + sequi to follow — more at sue Date: 14th century 1. the act or process of executing ; performance 2. a putting to death especially as a legal penalty 3. the process of enforcing a legal judgment (as against a debtor); also a judicial writ directing such enforcement 4. the act or mode or result of performance 5. archaic effective or destructive action <his brandished steel, which smoked with bloody execution — Shakespeare> — usually used with do <as soon as day came, we went out to see what execution we had done — Daniel Defoe>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 the carrying out of a sentence of death. 2 the act or an instance of carrying out or performing something. 3 technique or style of performance in the arts, esp. music. 4 a seizure of the property or person of a debtor in default of payment. b a judicial writ enforcing a judgement. Derivatives: executionary adj. Etymology: ME f. OF f. L executio -onis (as EXECUTE)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Execution Ex`e*cu"tion, n. [F. ex['e]cution, L. executio, exsecutio.] 1. The act of executing; a carrying into effect or to completion; performance; achievement; consummation; as, the execution of a plan, a work, etc. The excellence of the subject contributed much to the happiness of the execution. --Dryden. 2. A putting to death as a legal penalty; death lawfully inflicted; as, the execution of a murderer. A warrant for his execution. --Shak. 3. The act of the mode of performing a work of art, of performing on an instrument, of engraving, etc.; as, the execution of a statue, painting, or piece of music. The first quality of execution is truth. --Ruskin. 4. (Law) (a) The carrying into effect the judgment given in a court of law. (b) A judicial writ by which an officer is empowered to carry a judgment into effect; final process. (c) The act of signing, and delivering a legal instrument, or giving it the forms required to render it valid; as, the execution of a deed, or a will. 5. That which is executed or accomplished; effect; effective work; -- usually with do. To do some fatal execution. --Shak. 6. The act of sacking a town. [Obs.] --Beau. & FL.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

see execute

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Performance, operation, accomplishment, achievement, completion, consummation. 2. Effect, something done. 3. Mode of performance. 4. Writ or warrant (for carrying out a judgment or sentence). 5. Capital punishment, punishment of death. 6. Destruction, damage, destructive effect.

Moby Thesaurus

accomplished fact, accomplishment, accordance, achievement, acquittal, acquittance, action, adherence, administration, agency, angary, annexation, annexure, approach, art, assassination, attachment, attainment, ax, bane, beheading, block, blood, bloodletting, bloodshed, braining, bringing to fruition, burning, cantando, capital punishment, care, carrying out, collectivization, commandeering, commission, communalization, communization, completion, compliance, conduct, confiscation, conformance, conformity, consummation, cross, crucifixion, dealing death, death chair, death chamber, decapitation, decollation, defenestration, delivery, demilegato, destruction, destruction of life, direction, discharge, dispatch, distraint, distress, doing, driving, drop, effectuation, electric chair, electrocution, eminent domain, enactment, enforcement, euthanasia, exercise, expression, expropriation, extermination, fait accompli, fingering, flow of blood, fruition, fulfillment, functioning, fusillade, gallows, gallows-tree, garnishment, garrote, gas chamber, gassing, gibbet, glissando, gore, guillotine, halter, handling, hanging, heed, heeding, hemlock, hemp, hempen collar, hot seat, immolation, implementation, impoundment, impressment, intonation, judicial murder, keeping, kill, killing, lapidation, legato, lethal chamber, levy, liquidation, maiden, management, manipulation, manner, martyrdom, martyrization, mastery, mercy killing, mezzo staccato, mission accomplished, mode, murder, music-making, nationalization, necktie party, noose, observance, observation, occupation, operancy, operation, overproduction, parlando, performance, performing, perpetration, pianism, pizzicato, poisoning, practice, production, productiveness, prosecution, pursuance, realization, removal, rendering, rendition, repercussion, respect, responsibility, right of angary, ritual killing, ritual murder, rope, rubato, running, sacrifice, satisfaction, scaffold, sequestration, shooting, skill, slaughter, slaying, slur, socialization, spiccato, staccato, stake, steering, stoning, strangling, strangulation, style, success, taking of life, technique, the ax, the block, the chair, the gallows, the gas chamber, the guillotine, the hot seat, the rope, touch, transaction, tree, work, working, workings