track down

British

verb

(tr, adverb) to find by tracking or pursuing

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

track down Idioms

Follow successfully, locate, as in I've been trying to track down that book but haven't had any luck. This term alludes to the literal use of track, “follow the footsteps of.” [Second half of 1800s]

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

He was tracked down with the help of U.S. intelligence obtained, in part, through Predator drone surveillance, the sources said.

From Los Angeles Times

El Mencho was captured on Sunday after forces tracked down a romantic partner he was meeting, according to Mexico's defence secretary.

From BBC

A former Army helicopter pilot, Kevin Randle, spent much of his life tracking down witnesses who had spotted crash debris and even what looked like alien bodies being hauled away from the remote area.

From The Wall Street Journal

The BBC tracked down the originator of the Croydon AI videos for the new podcast Top Comment, which investigates the stories behind our social media feeds.

From BBC

Isn’t tracking down possible kidnappers a good thing?

From Salon

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023