Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Put to death as a legal punishment: Describes a person who has been killed by the state or legal authority as a penalty for a crime.
   • Carried out or performed: (In a broader, less common legal/formal context) Describes an action, plan, or order that has been fully and effectively completed.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • The executed prisoner's final words were recorded.
  • The court order was promptly executed by the sheriff. (Here, "executed" means carried out, not put to death).

Advanced Usage

• "executed with precision": Carried out in a very exact and accurate manner.
  • The military operation was executed with precision.
• "a well-executed plan": A plan that was performed skillfully and successfully.
  • The product launch was a well-executed plan.

Variants and Related Words

• Execute (verb): To carry out a plan, order, or course of action; to put to death.
• Execution (noun): The act of carrying out a plan or performing a task; the act of putting someone to death legally.
• Executor (noun): A person appointed to carry out the terms of a will.

Synonyms

• Put to death: Killed as a punishment.
• Carried out: Performed, accomplished, or fulfilled.
• Implemented: Put into effect.

Related Phrases

• Summary execution: An execution carried out promptly and without a formal trial.
• Warrant of execution: A legal document authorizing a death sentence or, in other contexts, the seizure of property.

Idioms

• To execute a U-turn: (Figurative) To make a complete reversal in policy or opinion.
  • The government executed a U-turn on its tax policy.
• To be executed in effigy: To have an image or dummy of oneself symbolically put to death, often as a protest.
  • The unpopular leader was executed in effigy by the protesters.

Adjective

1. put to death as punishment
   • claimed the body of the executed traitor