The Collaborative International Dictionary
Persecute \Per"se*cute\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Persecuted; p. pr. & vb. n. Persecuting.] [F. pers['e]cueter, L. persequi, persecutus, to pursue, prosecute; per + sequi to follow, pursue. See Per-, and Second.]
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To pursue in a manner to injure, grieve, or afflict; to beset with cruelty or malignity; to harass; especially, to afflict, harass, punish, or put to death, for adherence to a particular religious creed or mode of worship.
Do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.
--Matt. v. 44. -
To harass with importunity; to pursue with persistent solicitations; to annoy.
--Johnson.Syn: To oppress; harass; distress; worry; annoy.
Wiktionary
vb. (present participle of persecute English)
Usage examples of "persecuting".
Such was the persecuting spirit of the laws of Theodosius, which were repeatedly enforced by his sons and grandsons, with the loud and unanimous applause of the Christian world.
In a bigoted and persecuting court, the principal minister was accused of a secret aversion to the Christian faith, and was supposed to entertain the sentiments of an Atheist and a Pagan, which have been imputed, inconsistently enough, to the last philosophers of Greece.
The only thing about her that he had particularly noticed was a ring of peculiar workmanship upon a finger of the hand that Rokoff had seized, and he determined to note the fingers of the women passengers he came upon thereafter, that he might discover the identity of her whom Rokoff was persecuting, and learn if the fellow had offered her further annoyance.
Could it be, in this inverted age, that he was being victimized by -- the fates, he agreed with himself to call the persecuting agency -- precisely _because of_ his pursuit of "the good"?
The persecuting noises and fog of green light shut off as the door slid shut behind him.