# prosecutor

Pronunciation: US say "PRAH-suh-kyoo-tur" /ˈpɹɑ.səˌkjuːˌtəɹ/; UK say "PROS-i-kyoo-tuh" /ˈpɹɒsɪkjuːtə/

## Noun

1. A lawyer who conducts the case against a defendant in a criminal trial.
   - Simple: A lawyer who tries to prove in court that someone is guilty of a crime.
   - _The prosecutor argued that the defendant had planned the burglary for weeks._
   - _Seasoned prosecutors know how to present complex evidence clearly to a jury._
2. A complainant, victim, or principal witness who initiates a criminal prosecution against another party.
   - Simple: A person, such as a victim or main witness, who starts a criminal case against someone.
   - _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._

## 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'.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/prosecutor (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).