perpetration
(pɜːpɪˈtreɪʃən)
[ad. L. perpetrātiōn-em, n. of action from perpetrāre to perpetrate: so in mod.F. (Littré).]
The action of perpetrating or performing (an evil deed); the committing (of a crime); also, the action perpetrated; a wicked or cruel action; an atrocity.
| c 1450 Mirour Saluacioun 3961 Of a synne dedely..after perpetracionne. 1534 Act 26 Hen. VIII, c. 6 §1 The people of Wales..haue..perseuered in perpetracion and commission of diuers & manifold theftes. 1680 Counterplots 4 The flagitious Atchievements and most nefandous perpetrations of that Parliament. 1797 Mrs. Radcliffe Italian iv, A man whose passions might impel him to the perpetration of almost any crime. 1854 J. H. Newman Lect. Hist. Turks iii. i. 136 The savage perpetrations of Zingis and Timour. |
† b. Performance (in neutral sense). Obs. rare.
| a 1631 Donne Serm., Matt. v. 16 (1640) 79 In the acting and perpetration of a good work. |
c. colloq. The execution of something which the speaker humorously affects to consider very bad or ‘atrocious’, or as execrably performed.
| 1849 Rock Ch. of Fathers I. 215 The whimsical perpetrations of Borromini. |