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Sue vs Prosecute - What's the difference?

sue | prosecute |

In transitive terms the difference between sue and prosecute

is that sue is to seek by request; to make application; to petition; to entreat; to plead while prosecute is to pursue something to the end.

As verbs the difference between sue and prosecute

is that sue is to follow while prosecute is to start criminal proceedings against.

As a proper noun Sue

is a diminutive of Susan and of related female given names; popular as a middle name.

As a noun Sue

is a Mary Sue (type of character in fiction).

sue

English

Verb

  • To follow.
  • * , Bk.XIII, Ch.iv:
  • And the olde knyght seyde unto the yonge knyght, ‘Sir, swith me.’
  • * 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queen) , III.iv:
  • though oft looking backward, well she vewd, / Her selfe freed from that foster insolent, / And that it was a knight, which now her sewd , / Yet she no lesse the knight feard, then that villein rude.
  • (label) To file a legal action against someone, generally a non-criminal action.
  • (label) To seek by request; to make application; to petition; to entreat; to plead.
  • To clean (the beak, etc.).
  • To leave high and dry on shore.
  • To court.
  • Derived terms

    * sue for peace

    Anagrams

    * * ----

    prosecute

    English

    Verb

    (prosecut)
  • (legal) To start criminal proceedings against.
  • to prosecute a man for trespass, or for a riot
  • * Milton
  • To acquit themselves and prosecute their foes.
  • (legal) To charge, try.
  • To seek to obtain by legal process.
  • to prosecute a right or a claim in a court of law
  • To pursue something to the end.
  • to prosecute a scheme, hope, or claim
  • * Shakespeare
  • I am beloved of beauteous Hermia; / Why should not I, then, prosecute my right?

    Derived terms

    * prosecutable