Meanings
present singular third person puts to death · participle present putting to death
- To kill as punishment for capital crimes; to execute.
One of Clemons's three co-defendants has already been executed, and Clemons himself came within 12 days of being put to death in 2009.
2012 August 21, Ed Pilkington, “Death penalty on trial: should Reggie Clemons live or die?”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 10 Jun 20211 more example
The fathers shall not bee put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: euery man shall be put to death for his owne sinne.
1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Deuteronomy 24:16Synonyms: execute
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo kill as punishment for capital crimes; to execute.
More synonyms by meaning
verbkill as a means of socially sanctioned punishment
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Cite this entry
put to death. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/put%20to%20death
“put to death.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/put%20to%20death. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “put to death,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/put%20to%20death.
Source: put to death on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.