trace Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a just detectable amount
    suggestion; hint.
    • he speaks French with a trace of an accent
  2. noun an indication that something has been present
    vestige; shadow; tincture.
    • there wasn't a trace of evidence for the claim
    • a tincture of condescension
  3. noun a suggestion of some quality
    touch; ghost.
    • there was a touch of sarcasm in his tone
    • he detected a ghost of a smile on her face
  4. noun a drawing created by superimposing a semitransparent sheet of paper on the original image and copying on it the lines of the original image
    tracing.
  5. noun either of two lines that connect a horse's harness to a wagon or other vehicle or to a whiffletree
  6. noun a visible mark (as a footprint) left by the passage of person or animal or vehicle
  7. verb follow, discover, or ascertain the course of development of something
    follow.
    • We must follow closely the economic development is Cuba
    • trace the student's progress
  8. verb make a mark or lines on a surface
    delineate; draw; describe; line.
    • draw a line
    • trace the outline of a figure in the sand
  9. verb to go back over again
    retrace.
    • we retraced the route we took last summer
    • trace your path
  10. verb pursue or chase relentlessly
    hunt; hound.
    • The hunters traced the deer into the woods
    • the detectives hounded the suspect until they found him
  11. verb discover traces of
    • She traced the circumstances of her birth
  12. verb make one's course or travel along a path; travel or pass over, around, or along
    • The children traced along the edge of the dark forest
    • The women traced the pasture
  13. verb 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
  14. verb read with difficulty
    decipher.
    • Can you decipher this letter?
    • The archeologist traced the hieroglyphs

WordNet

Trace noun
Etymology
F.trais. pl. of trait. See Trait.
Definitions
  1. One of two straps, chains, or ropes of a harness, extending from the collar or breastplate to a whiffletree attached to a vehicle or thing to be drawn; a tug.
Trace noun
Etymology
F. trace. See Trace, v. t.
Definitions
  1. A mark left by anything passing; a track; a path; a course; a footprint; a vestige; as, the trace of a carriage or sled; the trace of a deer; a sinuous trace. Milton.
  2. (Chem.&Min.) A very small quantity of an element or compound in a given substance, especially when so small that the amount is not quantitatively determined in an analysis;-hence, in stating an analysis, often contracted to tr.
  3. A mark, impression, or visible appearance of anything left when the thing itself no longer exists; remains; token; vestige.
    The shady empire shall retain no trace Of war or blood, but in the sylvan chase. Pope.
  4. (Descriptive Geom.&Persp.) The intersection of a plane of projection, or an original plane, with a coordinate plane.
  5. (Fort.) The ground plan of a work or works.
Trace transitive verb
Etymology
OF. tracier, F. tracer, from (assumed) LL. tractiare, fr.L. tractus, p. p. of trahere to draw. Cf. Abstract, Attract, Contract, Portratt, Tract, Trail, Train, Treat.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle traced ; present participle & verbal noun tracing
Definitions
  1. To mark out; to draw or delineate with marks; especially, to copy, as a drawing or engraving, by following the lines and marking them on a sheet superimposed, through which they appear; as, to trace a figure or an outline; a traced drawing.
    Some faintly traced features or outline of the mother and the child, slowly lading into the twilight of the woods. Hawthorne.
  2. To follow by some mark that has been left by a person or thing which has preceded; to follow by footsteps, tracks, or tokens. Cowper.
    You may trace the deluge quite round the globe. T. Burnet.
    I feel thy power . . . to trace the ways Of highest agents. Milton.
  3. Hence, to follow the trace or track of.
    How all the way the prince on footpace traced. Spenser.
  4. To copy; to imitate.
    That servile path thou nobly dost decline, Of tracing word, and line by line. Denham.
  5. To walk over; to pass through; to traverse.
    We do tracethis alley up and down. Shak.
Trace intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To walk; to go; to travel. Obs.
    Not wont on foot with heavy arms to trace. Spenser.

Webster 1913