Question

execute

Accepted Answer

ex‧e‧cute /ˈeksəkjuːt, ˈeksɪkjuːt/ verb [transitive]
1kill somebody to kill someone, especially legally as a punishment
execute somebody for something
Thousands have been executed for political crimes.
13 people were summarily executed (=killed without any trial or legal process) by the guerrillas.
2do something formal to do something that has been carefully planned SYN implement:
The job involves drawing up and executing a plan of nursing care.
3perform an action formal to perform a difficult action or movement
beautifully/skilfully/poorly etc executed
The skaters’ routine was perfectly executed.
4computer technical if a computer executes a program or command (=instruction), it makes the program or command happen or work
5legal document law to make sure that the instructions in a legal document are followed
6produce something formal to produce a painting, book, film etc:
a boldly executed story
THESAURUS
kill to make someone die: The driver and his passenger were killed in the crash. | He was killed by rival gang members.
murder to deliberately kill someone – used when talking about this as a crime: He was convicted of murdering his wife.
commit manslaughter to kill someone without intending to – used when talking about this as a crime: The court ruled that the guard had committed manslaughter.
assassinate to deliberately kill an important person, especially a politician: He was part of a plot to assassinate Hitler.
slay to kill someone or something in a violent way – used in newspaper reports and also in old stories: Two teenagers were slain in the shootings. | St. George slew the dragon. | The king was slain at the battle of Hastings.
execute formal (also put somebody to death) to kill someone as a punishment for a crime: McVeigh, who killed 168 people in a bombing attack, was executed by lethal injection.
eliminate to kill someone in order to prevent them from causing trouble: a ruthless dictator who eliminated all his rivals
take somebody out informal to kill someone in order to get rid of them, especially an enemy or someone who is causing trouble for you: US forces used air strikes to take out the enemy positions. | One of the other drug dealers may have decided to take him out.
bump somebody off humorous informal to kill someone: He was so irritating I felt like bumping him off myself.
do away with somebody informal to kill someone: The settlers in Jamestown had been done away with, but no one knew how.

Kill Executed Formal Execute Killed Crime Informal Punishment