Link Centre Dictionary

trace

UK/tɹeɪs/ US/tʃɹeɪs/ common
verb (8) noun (6)

verb

1.

follow, discover, or ascertain the course of development of something

  • “We must follow closely the economic development is Cuba”
  • “trace the student”
Synonyms
2.

make a mark or lines on a surface

  • “draw a line”
  • “trace the outline of a figure in the sand”
Synonyms
3.

to go back over again

  • “we retraced the route we took last summer”
  • “trace your path”
Synonyms
4.

pursue or chase relentlessly

  • “The hunters traced the deer into the woods”
  • “the detectives hounded the suspect until they found the him”
Synonyms
5.

discover traces of

  • “She traced the circumstances of her birth”
6.

make one''s course or travel along a path; travel or pass over, around, or along

  • “The children traced along the edge of the drak forest”
  • “The women traced the pasture”
7.

copy by following the lines of the original drawing on a transparent sheet placed upon it; make a tracing of

  • “trace a design”
  • “trace a pattern”
8.

read with difficulty

  • “Can you decipher this letter?”
  • “The archeologist traced the hieroglyphs”
Synonyms

noun

1.

a just detectable amount

  • “he speaks French with a trace of an accent”
Synonyms
2.

an indication that something has been present

  • “there wasn”
  • “;”
Synonyms
3.

a suggestion of some quality

  • “there was a touch of sarcasm in his tone”
  • “he detected a ghost of a smile on her face”
Synonyms
4.

drawing created by tracing

Synonyms
5.

either of two lines that connect a horse''s harness to a wagon or other vehicle or to a whiffletree

6.

a visible mark (as a footprint) left by the passage of person or animal or vehicle

Origin

From Middle English tracen, from Old French tracer, trasser (“to delineate, score, trace", also, "to follow, pursue”), probably a conflation of Vulgar Latin *tractiō (“to delineate, score, trace”), from Latin trahere (“to draw”); and Old French traquer (“to chase, hunt, pursue”), from trac (“a track, trace”), from Middle Dutch treck, treke (“a drawing, draft, delineation, feature, expedition”). More at track.

Phrases

  • contact trace
  • fault trace
  • foliar trace
  • leaf trace
  • leave no trace
  • stack trace
  • test and trace
  • time trace
  • trace down
  • trace element
  • trace out
  • track and trace

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

Parts

Related verbs

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.