trace

TRAYS/tɹeɪs/

23 meanings of trace

1
nouncountable
A mark or sign that shows a person or animal passed by.
Like the footprints you leave in snow when you walk.
The hikers found a faint trace of deer in the soft mud.
Searchers looked for any trace of the lost child along the riverbank.
Similartrack, trail
Note
2
nouncountable
A very small amount of something that is left behind.
Like the tiny bit of sugar left at the bottom of an empty cup.
The doctor found a trace of poison in the water.
There was only a trace of milk left in the carton.
Similarbit, hint, dash, drop, grain
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3
adjective
So small in amount that it is hard to notice or measure.
Like a single drop of food coloring in a big tub of water.
The water had trace amounts of minerals in it.
Scientists found trace levels of the chemical in the soil.
Similarminute, tiny, minuscule, negligible
Oppositesubstantial, significant, large
4
verbtransitive
To copy a picture by putting thin paper over it and drawing along the lines.
Like drawing on top of a picture through paper you can see through.
She traced the map onto a clean sheet of paper.
He likes to trace cartoon characters from his comic books.
Similarcopy
5
verbtransitive
To follow the marks or path left by someone or something.
Like following footprints to find where someone went.
The hunters traced the wolf through the snow.
Police trace stolen cars using hidden devices.
Similartrack, trail, follow, locate
Note
6
verbtransitive
To follow how something developed from the past up to now.
Like following a river back upstream to find where it begins.
Historians trace the custom back to ancient times.
She traced her family back five generations.
Similarchart, follow, chronicle, document
7
verbtransitive
To draw or sketch something carefully, often with light lines.
Like drawing soft, light lines you can darken later.
The artist traced the outline of the mountains in pencil.
She likes to trace delicate flowers in her notebook.
Similarsketch, draw, outline, delineate
8
nouncountable
The act of copying or following a line, shape, or path.
A quick trace of the design took only a few minutes.
Her trace of the old map was almost perfect.
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9
nouncountable
A request sent out to find a lost letter or package.
The post office put a trace on the missing parcel.
She started a trace to find her lost package.
Similarinquiry, search
10
nouncountable
A very small amount of rain, too little to measure.
Like a few raindrops that barely wet the ground.
Only a trace of rain fell overnight.
The forecast showed a trace of rain in the morning.
Similardrop, bit, dash, spatter
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11
nouncountable
A thin metal line on a circuit board that carries electricity.
Like a tiny metal road that electricity travels along on the board.
The repair shop found a broken trace on the phone's circuit board.
A tiny trace carries power across the chip.
Similartrack
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12
nouncountable
A list of the instructions a program follows for one set of input, with no repeated loops.
Like writing down each turn you take through a maze for one trip, without going in circles.
The debugger printed a trace of every step the program took.
Each trace shows how the code ran for one input.
Note
13
verbtransitive
To follow a program step by step to see what it does at each point.
Like following a recipe one step at a time to see exactly where it goes wrong.
Programmers often trace the code to find where an error happens.
She wanted to trace the program one line at a time.
Note
14
nouncountable
A rough path or unpaved road across dry, open land.
Like a thin dirt path worn into the ground by people walking the same way.
We followed an old trace through the desert to reach the well.
The trace wound between the dry hills for miles.
Similartrail, track, path
15
nouncountable
In grammar, a silent gap left where a word has been moved to another spot in a sentence.
Like the empty chair left behind when someone moves to a new seat.
The trace shows where the question word used to sit in the sentence.
Teachers drew an empty box to mark the trace in the diagram.
Note
16
nouncountable
In math, the sum of the numbers along the main diagonal of a square number grid.
Like adding up only the numbers that sit on a straight line from one corner to the other.
To find the trace, add the numbers running from the top-left to the bottom-right.
The trace of that grid of numbers came to ten.
Note
17
nouncountable
In geometry, the line where one flat surface meets another.
Like the line you see where a wall meets the floor.
The trace appears where the slanted surface cuts across the floor.
We drew the trace as a straight line on the page.
Note
18
nouncountable
A strap, chain, or rope that connects a horse's harness to the cart or load it pulls.
Like the rope that ties a sled to the dog pulling it.
One trace snapped, and the cart lurched to one side.
The farmer hooked the leather trace to the plow.
19
nouncountable
In building forts, the outline or plan of the fort marked out on the ground.
Like the chalk outline of a building drawn on the ground before anyone builds it.
The engineer marked the trace of the fort with wooden stakes.
Workers dug along the trace laid out the day before.
Similaroutline, plan, layout
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20
nouncountable
A bar or rod joined at both ends to other parts to pass movement from one to another.
Like a stick that pushes one part whenever another part moves.
The trace pushed the lever each time the wheel turned.
A small metal trace linked the two moving parts.
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21
verbobsoletetransitive
To make a copy of something, or to imitate it.
That servile path thou nobly dost decline, / Of tracing word by word, and line by line.
1647, John Denham, To Sir Richard FanshawHere, tracing means copying exactly.
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22
verbobsoletetransitive
To walk across or pass through a place.
The travelers had to trace the dark forest before nightfall.
We do trace this alley up and down.
1598, William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”Here, trace means to walk along or through.
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23
verbobsoleteintransitive
To walk, go, or travel from one place to another.
They would trace slowly along the riverbank at dusk.
Not wont on foote with heavy armes to trace.
1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie QueeneHere, trace means to walk or travel.
Note

Practice

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Origins

Meanings 1–3, 8–12, 14–20

It comes from an old French word meaning an outline or track, taken from the verb 'trace'.

Meanings 4–7, 13, 21–23

It comes from an old French verb meaning to mark out or to follow. This probably mixed a Latin word meaning 'to draw' with another meaning 'to chase or hunt'.