tracer
noun
Simple meaning
The act or state of tracking or investigating something.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
trayserSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈtɹeɪsɚ
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.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The act or state of tracking or investigating something.
chemistry
A compound, element, or isotope used to track the progress or history of a natural process.
A round of ammunition for a firearm that contains magnesium or another flammable substance arranged such that it will burn and produce a visible trail when fired in the dark.
A person who traces something.
A request to trace the movements of a person or an object, such as a shipment.
An instrument used to make tracings
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The act or state of tracking or investigating something.
Used this way, tracer 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.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Round / ammunition
Radioactive
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Follow, discover, or ascertain the course of development of something.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Capable of being traced or tracked.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Ammunition whose flight can be observed by a trail of smoke.
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What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
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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.