prosecutor
Pluralprosecutors
- 1A lawyer who conducts the case against a defendant in a criminal trial.
The prosecutor argued that the defendant had planned the burglary for weeks.
Seasoned prosecutors know how to present complex evidence clearly to a jury.
Note
English took the word in the 1590s from Medieval Latin prosecutor, though it reads just as naturally as prosecute plus the agent ending -or. It pairs with the office behind it, as in a government prosecutor, and the plural can stand for the authorities at large: prosecutors had to move in. Older law reports may mean the complainant who laid the charge: Edward William Cox's Reports of Cases in Criminal Law (1861) calls Abraham Rhodes, drinking with the prisoners, the prosecutor.
- 2A complainant, victim, or principal witness who initiates a criminal prosecution against another party.
Under the old system of private prosecution, the wronged party served as the prosecutor at trial.
Many private prosecutors hired their own lawyers to argue the charges they had laid.
Similarcomplainant, accuser
Note
A legal term for whoever sets a criminal case in motion, and that person need not be a lawyer. It belongs to systems of private prosecution, where the victim or complainant lays the charge and may hire counsel to argue it. Because the word now usually means the prosecuting attorney, a sentence using this meaning needs context, such as who complained or who was wronged, to make it clear.
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Origin
First recorded in the 1590s, from Medieval Latin 'prosecutor', from 'prōsequor' (the source of English 'prosecute'); by surface analysis it can be seen as 'prosecute' plus '-or'.