public execution
Witnessed capital punishment
Public execution is the carrying out of a death sentence before spectators, historically used both as punishment and deterrent.
Crowds gathered for hangings, beheadings, and burnings well into the 19th century.
Most nations have since moved executions behind prison walls, though some countries still conduct them publicly.
Figuratively, a public execution is any visible, dramatic destruction of someone's career or reputation: The board meeting turned into a public execution of the CEO.
- gallowsExecution hanging apparatus
- nooseLoop that constricts
- hangingExecution by noose
- beheadingRemoval of head
- scaffoldTemporary elevated work structure
guillotine · death penalty · gibbet · punishment · crowd · angry mob · burning at the stake · pillory · town square · firing squad · death row · mob mentality · human rights violations · abolitionism · sanctity of life · crucifixion · rope · spectator sport
- French RevolutionBastille, guillotine, Robespierre, French Revolution, Marie Antoinette
- executionlethal injection, firing squad, gas chamber, electric chair, the chair
- Georgian crimecapital offenses, death penalty, hanging, transportation, gallows
- martyrdommartyrs, martyr, Christian martyrs, Catholic martyrs, Stephen
- medieval justicetrial by combat, trial by ordeal, trial by fire, trial by jury, ordeal
- penal historyprison, prisons, gaols, jails, penitentiaries
public, publicly, publics, publication, publish, publisher, publishing, published, republic