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chase

noun · verb

Simple meaning

A hunt; the act of hunting.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

chays
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈtʃeɪs

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. The act of one who chases another; a pursuit.

  2. uncountable

    A children's game where one player chases another.

  3. A hunt; the act of hunting; the pursuit of game.

  4. british

    A large country estate where game may be shot or hunted.

  5. Anything being chased, especially a vessel in time of war.

  6. A groove cut in an object; a slot: the chase for the quarrel on a crossbow.

verb

  1. Pursue someone sexually or romantically

  2. transitive

    To persistently pursue someone as a sexual or romantic partner.

  3. transitive

    To hunt.

  4. transitive

    To consume another beverage immediately after drinking hard liquor, typically something better tasting or less harsh such as soda or beer; to use a drink as a chaser.

  5. Cut a groove into

  6. transitive

    To groove; indent.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A children's game where one player chases another.

Used this way, chase is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use chase

  • “The policeman chased the mugger down the alley.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

give chasechase manhattangoose chasejustice chaselong chasesecretary chase

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • chasernounInflected form

    A person who is pursuing and trying to overtake or capture.

  • chasednounInflected form

    A person who is being chased.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • chase awayverbCompound term

    Force to go away.

  • chase afterverbCompound term

    Pursue someone sexually or romantically.

  • skirt chasernounCompound term

    A man who is aggressive in making amorous advances to women.

  • stern chasernounCompound term

    A naval gun able to fire astern at a ship in chase.

  • wild-goose chasenounCompound term

    The fruitless pursuit of something unattainable.

  • ambulance chasernounCompound term

    An unethical lawyer who incites accident victims to sue.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.