special prosecutor

Meaning

1. 1nouncountablelaw

   a lawyer appointed from outside a government office to investigate and prosecute a case, usually involving public officials.

   Grammar: Countable: you can say 'a special prosecutor' or 'special prosecutors'.

   Patterns

   • appoint a special prosecutor
   • a special prosecutor to investigate something
   • the special prosecutor's report

   The judge appointed a special prosecutor to look into the allegations.

   The special prosecutor charged several officials with corruption.

   Critics said the special prosecutor took too long to finish the investigation.

Word forms

Common combinations

appoint a special prosecutor

The attorney general appointed a special prosecutor to handle the case.

a special prosecutor to investigate

Congress called for a special prosecutor to investigate the scandal.

an independent special prosecutor

They demanded an independent special prosecutor free from political influence.

the special prosecutor's office

The special prosecutor's office released a statement.

Synonyms and how they differ

special counsel

A similar role, often used in official US regulations; it can also refer to a lawyer hired for a specific case.

independent counsel

An older US term for a similar position, now less common.

Word family

prosecutor noun

a lawyer who tries to prove someone is guilty in court

prosecute verb

to officially accuse someone of a crime in court

prosecution noun

the act of prosecuting or the lawyers who do it

Commonly confused: special prosecutor or defense attorney?

Practice

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Write a sentence using “special prosecutor”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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