EXECUTION

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does execution mean? 

• EXECUTION (noun)
  The noun EXECUTION has 7 senses:

1. putting a condemned person to death

2. the act of performing; of doing something successfully; using knowledge as distinguished from merely possessing it

3. (computer science) the process of carrying out an instruction by a computer

4. (law) the completion of a legal instrument (such as a contract or deed) by signing it (and perhaps sealing and delivering it) so that it becomes legally binding and enforceable

5. a routine court order that attempts to enforce the judgment that has been granted to a plaintiff by authorizing a sheriff to carry it out

6. the act of accomplishing some aim or executing some order

7. unlawful premeditated killing of a human being by a human being

  Familiarity information: EXECUTION used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• EXECUTION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Putting a condemned person to death

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

capital punishment; death penalty; executing; execution

Hypernyms ("execution" is a kind of...):

corporal punishment (the infliction of physical injury on someone convicted of committing a crime)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "execution"):

burning; burning at the stake (execution by fire)

hanging (a form of capital punishment; victim is suspended by the neck from a gallows or gibbet until dead)

burning; electrocution (execution by electricity)

beheading; decapitation (execution by cutting off the victim's head)

crucifixion (the act of executing by a method widespread in the ancient world; the victim's hands and feet are bound or nailed to a cross)

Derivation:

execute (kill as a means of socially sanctioned punishment)

executioner (an official who inflicts capital punishment in pursuit of a warrant)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The act of performing; of doing something successfully; using knowledge as distinguished from merely possessing it

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

carrying into action; carrying out; execution; performance

Context example:

experience generally improves performance

Hypernyms ("execution" is a kind of...):

action (something done (usually as opposed to something said))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "execution"):

linguistic performance ((linguistics) a speaker's actual use of language in real situations; what the speaker actually says, including grammatical errors and other non-linguistic features such as hesitations and other disfluencies (contrasted with linguistic competence))

mechanics; mechanism (the technical aspects of doing something)

officiation (the performance of a religious or ceremonial or public duty)

specific performance (the performance of a legal contract as specified by its terms)

Derivation:

execute (carry out or perform an action)

Sense 3

Meaning:

(computer science) the process of carrying out an instruction by a computer

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Synonyms:

execution; instruction execution

Hypernyms ("execution" is a kind of...):

physical process; process (a sustained phenomenon or one marked by gradual changes through a series of states)

Domain category:

computer science; computing (the branch of engineering science that studies (with the aid of computers) computable processes and structures)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "execution"):

batch processing (the serial execution of computer programs)

concurrent execution; multiprogramming (the execution of two or more computer programs by a single computer)

Holonyms ("execution" is a part of...):

data processing ((computer science) a series of operations on data by a computer in order to retrieve or transform or classify information)

Sense 4

Meaning:

(law) the completion of a legal instrument (such as a contract or deed) by signing it (and perhaps sealing and delivering it) so that it becomes legally binding and enforceable

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

execution; execution of instrument

Hypernyms ("execution" is a kind of...):

subscription (the act of signing your name; writing your signature (as on a document))

Domain category:

jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)

Derivation:

execute (carry out the legalities of)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A routine court order that attempts to enforce the judgment that has been granted to a plaintiff by authorizing a sheriff to carry it out

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

execution; writ of execution

Hypernyms ("execution" is a kind of...):

court order (a writ issued by a court of law requiring a person to do something or to refrain from doing something)

Domain category:

jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)

Sense 6

Meaning:

The act of accomplishing some aim or executing some order

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

carrying out; execution; implementation

Context example:

the agency was created for the implementation of the policy

Hypernyms ("execution" is a kind of...):

enforcement (the act of enforcing; ensuring observance of or obedience to)

Derivation:

execute (put in effect)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Unlawful premeditated killing of a human being by a human being

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

execution; murder; slaying

Hypernyms ("execution" is a kind of...):

homicide (the killing of a human being by another human being)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "execution"):

regicide (the act of killing a king)

thuggee (murder and robbery by thugs)

tyrannicide (killing a tyrant)

shoot-down (murder by shooting someone down in cold blood)

infanticide (murdering an infant)

hit (a murder carried out by an underworld syndicate)

dry-gulching (the act of killing from ambush)

lynching (putting a person to death by mob action without due process of law)

butchery; carnage; mass murder; massacre; slaughter (the savage and excessive killing of many people)

filicide (the murder of your own son or daughter)

assassination (murder of a public figure by surprise attack)

bloodshed; gore (the shedding of blood resulting in murder)

contract killing (a murder carried out on agreement with a hired killer)

parricide (the murder of your own father or mother)

mariticide (the murder of a husband by his wife)

fratricide (the murder of your sibling)

uxoricide (the murder of a wife by her husband)

elimination; liquidation (the murder of a competitor)

Derivation:

execute (murder in a planned fashion)

 Context examples 

One day, a young gentleman, who was nephew to my nurse’s governess, came and pressed them both to see an execution.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

The fact that Uranus will signal the moon and Sun suggests you will be paid well—and that it will all be based on your style and superb execution of the job.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

A state of an activity in relation to its execution, timing, objective(s) or other quantitative or qualitative parameter(s).

(Activity Status, NCI Thesaurus)

APAF1 allele is inactivated in metastatic melanomas, leading to defects in the execution of apoptotic cell death and chemoresistance.

(APAF1 wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)

It is your duty as a magistrate, and I believe and hope that your feelings as a man will not revolt from the execution of those functions on this occasion.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

"This man Swineburne," he began, attempting to put his plan into execution and pronouncing the i long.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

As I advanced in the execution of this task, I felt it more and more, and roused my utmost energies to do it well.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I picked up hope at the thought and put the order swiftly into execution.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The day of the execution broke clear and cold.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

The credit of the execution is due to Monsieur Oscar Meunier, of Grenoble, who spent some days in doing the moulding.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)