perpetrate

English

Etymology

From Middle English perpetrat (“committed, perpetrated”), from Latin perpetrātus, past participle of perpetrare (“to carry through”), from per (“through”) + patrare (“to perform”), akin to potis (“able”), potens (“powerful”); see potent.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɜː(ɹ).pəˌtɹeɪt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Verb

perpetrate (third-person singular simple present perpetrates, present participle perpetrating, simple past and past participle perpetrated)

1. (transitive) To be guilty of, or responsible for a crime etc; to commit.

   perpetrate a murder

   • 1867, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, chapter VIII, in The Gambler, translated by C. J. Hogarth‎:

     What Polina is good for is to fall head over ears in love. That is MY opinion. Look at her—especially when she is sitting alone, and plunged in thought. All this was pre-ordained and foretold, and is accursed. Polina could perpetrate any mad act. She—she—But who called me by name?" I broke off.

Related terms

• perpetration
• perpetrator

Translations

to be guilty of, or responsible for; to commit — see also commit

Bulgarian: извършвам (bg) (izvǎršvam) Catalan: perpetrar (ca) Czech: páchat (cs) Danish: begå Dutch: begaan (nl) Finnish: tehdä (fi) (+ accusative), syyllistyä (fi) (+ illative), suorittaa (fi) French: perpétrer (fr), commettre (fr) Georgian: ჩაიდენს (čaidens) German: begehen (de), verüben (de) Hungarian: elkövet (hu) Icelandic: fremja Italian: perpetrare (it) Polish: popełniać (pl) impf, popełnić (pl) pf, dopuszczać się (pl) impf, dopuścić się (pl) pf Portuguese: perpetrar (pt) Romanian: comite (ro) Russian: совершать (ru) impf (soveršatʹ), соверши́ть (ru) pf (soveršítʹ) Spanish: perpetrar (es) Swedish: begå (sv) Turkish: işlemek (tr) Ukrainian: вчиня́ти impf (včynjáty), вчини́ти pf (včynýty) Welsh: cyflawni (cy)

Further reading

• “perpetrate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “perpetrate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Italian

Etymology 1

Verb

perpetrate

1. inflection of perpetrare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Etymology 2

Participle

perpetrate f pl

1. feminine plural of perpetrato

Latin

Verb

perpetrāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of perpetrō

Spanish

Verb

perpetrate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of perpetrar combined with te