VocabauraVOCABAURA

trace

noun · adjective · verb

Simple meaning

A mark left as a sign of passage of a person or animal.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

trays
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈtɹeɪs

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. A mark left as a sign of passage of a person or animal.

  2. A very small amount, often residual, of some substance or material.

  3. An act of tracing.

  4. An informal road or prominent path in an arid area.

  5. One of two straps, chains, or ropes of a harness, extending from the collar or breastplate to a whippletree attached to a vehicle or thing to be drawn; a tug.

  6. colloquial

    A short form of the female given name Tracy or Tracey.

adjective

  1. Extremely small or insignificant (of an amount or quantity).

verb

  1. Follow, discover, or ascertain the course of development of something

  2. transitive

    To follow the trail of.

  3. To follow the history of.

  4. transitive

    To draw or sketch lightly or with care.

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

  6. transitive

    To copy onto a sheet of paper superimposed over the original, by drawing over its lines.

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 mark left as a sign of passage of a person or animal.

Used this way, trace 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 trace

  • “The children traced along the edge of the dark forest.”verb
  • “The hunters traced the deer into the woods.”verb
  • “She traced the circumstances of her birth.”verb

Share your sentence

Write your own example sentence using “trace”. We review each one before it appears.

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

trace elementsome trace

Tap the highlighted word to open its own entry.

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • tracingnounInflected form

    The act of drawing a plan or diagram or outline.

  • tracernounInflected form

    An investigator who is employed to find missing persons or missing goods.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • traceableadjectiveDerived adjective

    Capable of being traced or tracked.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • trace detectornounCompound term

    A screening device for traces of explosives.

  • trace elementnounCompound term

    An element that occurs at very small quantities in the body but is nonetheless important for many biological processes.

  • trace programnounCompound term

    A utility program that exhibits the sequence and results of executing the instructions in another program.

  • tracer bulletnounCompound term

    Ammunition whose flight can be observed by a trail of smoke.

  • explosive trace detectionnounCompound term

    A system for screening luggage in airports.

  • memory tracenounCompound term

    A postulated biochemical change (presumably in neural tissue) that represents a memory.

Use This Word

See how this word sounds in a real sentence.

Ask Vocabaura

Understand the word your way.

What Does It Mean Here?

Words can change meaning depending on context.

Use it yourself

Keep learning “trace” by choosing the kind of practice you need next.

Want to type words like this one without looking at the keyboard? Each typing round draws from words you've learned, saved or need to review. Follow the free Learn to Type lessons and type your own vocabulary with confidence.

Know the meaning? Practice vocabulary in real situations.

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.