track
Noun pluraltracks
Formstracks, tracking, tracked
Pluraltracks
- 1To follow and record the movement, progress, or condition of a person or thing over time, typically by watching, taking measurements, or using electronic equipment.
Researchers track the patients' cholesterol levels throughout the trial.
The dashboard tracks server temperatures across the data center.
UsageCommon with data and apps: track your steps, track a package, track progress.
- 2An individual song or other piece of music on a record, CD, or digital release, including the part of a disc on which it is recorded.
The band released only one track ahead of the full album.
Critics praised the closing tracks for their emotional depth.
UsageUsually a track on an album: the opening track, the title track.
Similarsong, number, recording, cut
Note
The listener's sense, which works on physical and digital recordings alike. Each track is indexed with its own start point, whether or not a pause separates it from its neighbors. It need not be a song with words, since an instrumental piece is a track too.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Tracks are normally indexed on CDs, but some hidden tracks have no separate index point. en.wikipedia.org
- 3A path or course laid out for racing, exercise, or similar activity.
The athletes warmed up on the track before the race.
A new rubberized track was installed at the high school.
UsageUsually on the track or around the track.
Note
Runners are not the only ones who use it. In the American novelist Winston Churchill's The Celebrity, Mr. Cooke is "trying a trotter on the track" when the visitors call. Racetrack is the fuller word when horses are meant. Track on its own covers both the horse course and the athlete's oval, as in round the track.
- 4The rails, and the bed beneath them, along which a train moves.
Crews inspected the track for cracks before the express was allowed through.
Several miles of track were torn up to make way for the new line.
UsageOften plural in everyday speech: the train tracks, across the tracks; but miles of track for the line.
Note
The railroad's word covers more than the steel. It includes the parallel rails, the ties or sleepers that hold them to gauge, and the ballast bed beneath that spreads the load.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Railway track includes the supporting structure as well as the steel rails. networkrail.co.uk
- Ties or sleepers support the rails and maintain their spacing. txdot.gov
- Ballast forms a supporting bed beneath the sleepers and distributes the load. steelconstruction.info
- 5The direction in which someone or something is moving, together with the progress made along that path.
Despite the early delays, the bridge project is on track to open next spring.
The missile's track curved sharply before impact.
UsageMost often in on track (to do something), off track and back on track.
Similarcourse, trajectory, path
- 6
- 7To follow the trail, footprints, or other traces left by a person or animal in order to find them.
Investigators tracked the hacker through a chain of server logs.
She used old letters and census records to track her long-lost cousin to Maine.
UsageOften track someone to a place; track down stresses finding them in the end.
- 8The running and racing events of athletics, considered together with field events as a single sport.
Track is one of the most popular sports at the college.
She earned a scholarship in track after a record-breaking season.
UsageUsed with no article: runs track, tries out for track, competes in track.
Similarathletics
- 9
- 10
- 11Recorded sound stored on a record or other medium.
The engineer layered a guitar track over the existing rhythm.
Each instrument was captured on a separate track.
UsageOften with the sound named first: a drum track, a vocal track.
Similarrecording
Note
In the studio, a track is a channel rather than a song. It may hold one instrument or voice, captured on its own so it can be edited and balanced before everything is combined in the final mix. A guitar track, a drum track and a vocal track may together make up a single song on the album.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- A track can hold one instrument or voice, but it can also contain several sources combined together. ableton.com
- Separately recorded audio can be edited individually. help.apple.com
- Individual recorded parts can be balanced and combined into a final mix. help.apple.com
- Instrumental and vocal tracks can be components of one song. cdn.roland.com
- 12To move or travel along a course or path, or across an area.
The hurricane tracked toward the coast for three days.
Most of these storms track north along the coast before they weaken.
UsageFollowed by a direction or level: a storm tracks north or tracks inland; prices track higher.
Less common meanings
- 13A mark or line of marks, such as footprints or wheel ruts, left on the ground where a person, animal, or vehicle has passed.
The tank cut a deep track through the soft field.
Faint tracks showed where the cart had rolled downhill.
UsageOften plural: tire tracks, tracks in the snow.
- 14Short for caterpillar track: a looped metal or rubber belt that runs around wheels to move tanks and diggers.
The vehicle's left track snapped during the river crossing.
Engineers redesigned the track to grip loose sand better.
Note
The full form, caterpillar track, became a generic name, derived from the Caterpillar trademark, for the steel or rubber belt fitted around the wheels of bulldozers, excavators and tanks. The belt spreads the load so the machine grips soft ground instead of sinking.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- These tracks are steel or rubber belts running around vehicle wheels. en.wikipedia.org
- Tracks spread the vehicle's load, improving its ability to travel over soft ground. caterpillar.com
- 15A themed group of talks or sessions within a larger conference.
The morning featured a dedicated track for early-career researchers.
Attendees could switch between tracks depending on their interests.
UsageUsually named by topic, as in a track on machine learning or the security track.
- 16To move or change in step with another person or thing, so that its movement or change is matched.
Gas prices tend to track the price of crude oil, rising and falling along with it.
In the mirror exercise, his hands tracked his partner's every gesture.
UsageOften with closely: sales closely track the weather.
- 17To create a musical recording; to record a track.
They tracked the drums in a single afternoon session.
The studio lets you track and mix in one place.
Similarrecord
Note
In studio language, track is a recording verb. To track is to record performances onto one or more channels, so the drums can be tracked in an afternoon and balanced later. It works with or without an object: they tracked the drums, or he is going to track with that DJ. Tracking is the stage that comes before mixing.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Tracking means recording performances; it can involve multiple performers and channels simultaneously. us.focusrite.com
- Tracking precedes mixing in the standard recording workflow. routledge.com
- 18To be consistent with known information; to make sense.
His excuse doesn't really track with what his boss told us.
His explanation tracks with the security footage.
UsageOften short: that tracks, or track with something. In formal writing, is consistent with does the same job.
Similartally, jibe, square, fit, agree
Note
Television dialogue shows this verb at home: "everything tracks" in Dynasty (1988), "That tracks" in Without a Trace (2002), "it tracks" in Manifest (2019). It says the pieces fit what is already known.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Dynasty contains "everything tracks" in a 1988 episode, "The Rifle". en.wiktionary.org
- Without a Trace contains "That tracks" in a 2002 episode, "Midnight Sun". en.wiktionary.org
- Manifest contains "it tracks" in a 2019 episode, "Cleared for Approach". en.wiktionary.org
- 19To divide students into separate groups, each taught to a different level of ability.
Some schools track children into separate classes from a young age.
Administrators chose to track incoming freshmen by test scores.
UsageStudents are tracked into classes or tracked by ability; the practice is called tracking.
Similarstream, set, group, sort
Note
Educators call the practice tracking, and the verb can carry criticism, sometimes with scare quotes. Leonard Tirado, writing in 1990, described working-class kids "purposely 'tracked' through schools." The debate over the practice centers on its effects on equity and long-term achievement.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Leonard Tirado wrote the quoted description of working-class children in 1990, in "Privatized 'Recovery' Versus Collective Action", Gay Community News. en.wiktionary.org
- The tracking debate concerns educational equity. brookings.edu
- Long-term academic achievement is an issue in research and debate about tracking. brookings.edu
- 20To move the camera so that a moving subject stays within the shot.
In the long opening shot, the camera operator has to track the actor through a crowded kitchen.
The camera tracks left to follow the action.
Note
A camera term with a distinction worth keeping. When the camera tracks, it travels bodily to follow a moving subject, often on a dolly or rail. A pan only pivots from a fixed point.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Tracking often uses a dolly or rails. filmglossary.ccnmtl.columbia.edu
- A pan pivots the camera from a fixed position. filmglossary.ccnmtl.columbia.edu
- 21To leave marks or deposits, such as mud or footprints, on a surface by walking over it.
Workers tracked grease across the showroom floor.
Try not to track sand into the tent.
UsageThe dirt is the object, usually followed by a direction: track mud into the house, across the floor.
- 22One of the concentric circular paths on a side of a magnetic disk where data is stored, divided into sectors; an optical disc instead has one continuous spiral track.
Each track on the hard disk is divided into numbered sectors.
The read head moves between tracks to find the requested file.
Note
Part of the geometry of a disk. A track is a closed concentric ring on one surface, and it never comes to an end. The drive divides it into numbered sectors, and the read head moves from track to track to find data. When several platters are stacked, the tracks that line up vertically form a cylinder.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
- A magnetic disk track is a closed concentric ring on a disk surface, so it has no endpoint. en.wikipedia.org
- Tracks are divided into sectors. en.wikipedia.org
- Sectors are numbered. unige.ch
- The read head is moved between tracks to access data. www2.cs.sfu.ca
- Tracks at the same radius across stacked platters form a cylinder. nielit.gov.in
- 23In cricket, the pitch: the prepared strip of ground between the wickets.
The captain studied the track before deciding to bat first.
A dry track favored the spin bowlers in the afternoon.
Note
Cricket's second name for the pitch, the strip between the two sets of stumps on which the ball is bowled. Its hardness and moisture shape how the ball behaves. So a dry track can favor the spin bowlers, and a captain studies it before choosing to bat. Pitch remains the standard term, and track is the alternative.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- The pitch is the strip between the wickets on which the ball is bowled. en.wikipedia.org
- Pitch hardness and moisture affect the ball's behaviour. toolkit.thegma.org.uk
- A dry pitch can favour spin bowlers. en.wikipedia.org
- A captain examines the pitch before deciding whether to bat first. en.wikipedia.org
- 24The distance between the two wheels at opposite ends of one axle.
- 25The whole underside of a foot, especially a bird's.
- 26The streets where sex workers look for customers, seen as their place of work.
- 27Short for track shoe, a light running shoe with spikes.
- 28A program of study a senior high school student chooses to focus on, sometimes split into smaller strands.
- 29To pull a boat along a canal or river with a rope from the bank.
- 30To show clear thinking and follow what is happening, often said of a patient.
- 31To compose music with tracker software, which lays out notes and effects in rows within patterns.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
From Middle English 'trak' or 'tracke', taken from Old French 'trac' meaning a track, trail, or trace. Its ultimate origin is uncertain, but it likely came from a Germanic source, either Old Norse 'traðk' (a track or trodden path) or Middle Dutch 'trec' (a line, row, or series).
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
- Track comes through Middle English trak or tracke from Old French trac, meaning a track, trail or trace. en.wiktionary.org
- The ultimate origin is uncertain. en.wiktionary.org
- A Germanic source is considered likely, with Old Norse traðk and Middle Dutch trec proposed as alternatives. en.wiktionary.org
- Old Norse traðk means a track or trodden path. en.wiktionary.org
- Middle Dutch trec is glossed as a line, row or series. en.wiktionary.org