From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishtracetrace1 /treɪs/ ●●○ AWL verb [transitive] 1 find somebody/somethingFIND to find someone or something that has disappeared by searching for them carefully She had given up all hope of tracing her missing daughter. Police are trying to trace a young woman who was seen near the accident.► see thesaurus at find2 originsFIND OUT to find the origins of when something began or where it came fromtrace something (back) to something They’ve traced their ancestry to Scotland. The style of these paintings can be traced back to early medieval influences.3 history/developmentDESCRIBE to study or describe the history, development, or progress of something Sondheim’s book traces the changing nature of the relationship between men and women.4 copyAVD to copy a drawing, map etc by putting a piece of transparent paper over it and then drawing the lines you can see through the paper► see thesaurus at draw5 with your fingerDRAW to draw real or imaginary lines on the surface of something, usually with your finger or toetrace something on/in/across something Rosie’s fingers traced a delicate pattern in the sand.6 → trace a call —traceable adjective→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
trace• The other student has not been traced.• Police are trying to trace a red van, which several witnesses reported seeing near the scene of the crime.• The tradition traces back to medieval Spain.• Philips hired a private detective to trace his daughter, who had been missing for two months.• Their ancestry can be traced in the Reading area as far back as 1240.• "Did you draw this yourself?" "No, I traced it."• It has begun tracing lines, through totally vacant space, between recurrences.• Once again one can trace some continuities of practice with older forms of representation.• Keep him on the line so we can trace the call.• Students will trace the development of labor unions in the U.S.• Nor is the manner in which Mumford traces the historical roots of this development much different from that of Wittfogel.• The children traced the map of France and then wrote in the names of the places they had visited.• Police are still trying to trace the missing child.• It takes a bit of detective work to trace the symptom back to the cause.• The cash was eventually traced to a prominent Paris lawyer.trace something (back) to something• Three hundred workpeople trampling about and regular cleaning means traces are going to be destroyed long ago, I would have thought.• The success of the company can be traced to good marketing.• At least 80% green patina remains with enough traces of gilt to show that the overall effect was golden.• If today such spending amounts to roughly two-thirds of all economic activity, we can trace its origin back to the 1920s.• It takes a bit of detective work to trace the symptom back to the cause.• The roots of this new fascination can be traced back to the heart of minimalism.• This effect is traced inpart to the special status afforded to characters which are introduced through proper names.• Eusebius traces them to the time of the Emperor Trajan, A.D. 98-117.• Some trace their improvement to the unity forged there.trace something on/in/across something• Jen traced her name in the sand.tracetrace2 ●●○ AWL noun 1 sign of something [countable, uncountable]DISAPPEAR a small sign that shows that someone or something was present or existed There was no trace of anyone having entered the room since then. Petra’s lost all trace of her German accent. Officers were unable to find any trace of drugs.disappear/vanish/sink without (a) trace (=disappear completely, without leaving any sign of what happened) The plane vanished without a trace.2 small amount [countable]LITTLE/NOT MUCH a very small amount of a quality, emotion, substance etc that is difficult to see or noticetrace of I saw the faintest trace of a smile cross Sandra’s face. traces of poison3 telephone [countable] technicalTCT a search to find out where a telephone call came from, using special electronic equipment The police put a trace on the call.4 information recorded [countable]TEEMH technical the mark or pattern made on a screen or on paper by a machine that is recording an electrical signal This trace shows the heartbeat.5 cart/carriage [countable]TTB one of the two pieces of leather, rope etc by which a cart or carriage is fastened to an animal pulling it → kick over the traces at kick1(19)Examples from the Corpus
trace• But this time she couldn't help feeling a trace, just a whisper of his elation.• Hans speaks English beautifully, without a trace of a foreign accent.• The thief was careful not to leave any trace of his activities.• It contains traces of people who are among the first to be photographed in city streets anywhere in the world.• The flattened rectangular section behind the neck contains traces of a large iron blade, possibly a double-edged dagger or short sword.• Many local people were very eager to get rid of the last traces of their town's shameful past.• Celestine was scraping the last traces from her bowl when Lufkin walked over to the cabinet holding his record collection.• The job involves tracking packages, running traces.• In 1928 and 1931, two large earthquakes in New Zealand produced strong traces on Seismographs throughout the world.• Early attempts - including putting a ping-pong ball inside a soap bar - sank without trace.no trace• Dagobert receives no entry in the dictionaries of saints and no trace of him is on public view at Stenay.• But they found no trace of the highly profitable illegal cargo that it was supposed to be carrying.• There is no trace of conceit, arrogance or class consciousness about her.• There is no result, no trace to mark what you have done.• Hillary Clinton she's not, but there was no trace of the frumpy babushka, below, from 1989.• Moon-Watcher looked across the valley to see if the Others were in sight, but there was no trace of them.• There was no trace of Silk.trace of• a trace of poisonOrigin trace1 (1200-1300) Old French tracier, from Vulgar Latin tractiare “to pull”, from Latin trahere trace2 1. (1200-1300) Old French tracier; → TRACE12. (1300-1400) Old French trais “traces”, plural of trait “pull, trace”; → TRAIT 