hunt
verb (used with object)
to chase or search for (game or other wild animals) for the purpose of catching or killing.
hunt
1 American
[huhnt]
/ hʌnt /
verb (used with object)
-
hunts,
present (3rd person singular)
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hunted,
past participle, past
-
hunting
present participle
-
to chase or search for (game or other wild animals) for the purpose of catching or killing.
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to pursue with force, hostility, etc., in order to capture (often followed bydown ).
They hunted him down and hanged him.
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to search for; seek; endeavor to obtain or find (often followed by up orout ).
to hunt up the most promising candidates for the position.
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to search (a place) thoroughly.
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to scour (an area) in pursuit of game.
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to use or direct (a horse, hound, etc.) in chasing game.
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Change Ringing. to alter the place of (a bell) in a hunt.
verb (used without object)
-
hunts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
hunted,
past participle, past
-
hunting
present participle
-
to engage in the pursuit, capture, or killing of wild animals for food or in sport.
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to make a search or quest (often followed by for orafter ).
-
Change Ringing. to alter the place of a bell in its set according to certain rules.
noun
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hunts
plural
-
an act or practice of hunting game or other wild animals.
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a search; a seeking or endeavor to find.
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a pursuit.
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a group of persons associated for the purpose of hunting; an association of hunters.
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an area hunted over.
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Change Ringing. a regularly varying order of permutations in the ringing of a group of from five to twelve bells.
Hunt
2
American
[huhnt]
/ hʌnt /
noun
-
(James Henry) Leigh 1784–1859, English essayist, poet, and editor.
-
Richard Morris, 1828–95, U.S. architect.
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(William) Holman 1827–1910, English painter.
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William Morris, 1824–79, U.S. painter (brother of Richard Morris Hunt).
hunt
1
British
/ hʌnt /
verb
-
to seek out and kill or capture (game or wild animals) for food or sport
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to look (for); search (for)
to hunt for a book
to hunt up a friend
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(tr) to use (hounds, horses, etc) in the pursuit of wild animals, game, etc
to hunt a pack of hounds
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(tr) to search or draw (country) to hunt wild animals, game, etc
to hunt the parkland
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to track or chase diligently, esp so as to capture
to hunt down a criminal
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(tr; usually passive) to persecute; hound
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(intr) (of a gauge indicator, engine speed, etc) to oscillate about a mean value or position
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(intr) (of an aircraft, rocket, etc) to oscillate about a flight path
noun
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the act or an instance of hunting
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chase or search, esp of animals or game
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the area of a hunt
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a party or institution organized for the pursuit of wild animals or game, esp for sport
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the participants in or members of such a party or institution
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informal having a chance of success See also hunt down hunt up
that result keeps us in the hunt
Hunt
2
British
/ hʌnt /
noun
-
Henry , known as Orator Hunt . 1773–1835, British radical, who led the mass meeting that ended in the Peterloo Massacre (1819)
-
( William ) Holman. 1827–1910, British painter; a founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (1848)
-
James. 1947–93, British motor-racing driver: world champion 1976
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( Henry Cecil ) John , Baron. 1910–98, British army officer and mountaineer. He planned and led the expedition that first climbed Mount Everest (1953)
-
( James Henry ) Leigh (liː). 1784–1859, British poet and essayist: a founder of The Examiner (1808) in which he promoted the work of Keats and Shelley
hunt
Idioms
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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outhuntverb (used with object)
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overhuntverb (used with object)
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huntableadjective
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unhuntableadjective
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unhuntedadjective
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huntedlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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huntsimple
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huntssimple
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have huntedperfect
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has huntedperfect
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am huntingprogressive
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are huntingprogressive
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is huntingprogressive
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have been huntingperfect progressive
-
has been huntingperfect progressive
Past
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huntedsimple
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had huntedperfect
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was huntingprogressive
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were huntingprogressive
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had been huntingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of hunt
First recorded before 1000; (for the verb) Middle English hunten, Old English huntian, derivative of hunta “hunter,” akin to hentan “to pursue”; noun derivative of the verb
Explanation
To hunt is to track and kill an animal for fun or food. In Italy, they use pigs to hunt truffles. In the US, they use shotguns to hunt deer. Some humans hunt animals with a gun or a bow and arrow, and some animals hunt smaller animals — the way a wolf hunts rabbits or a cat hunts birds. You can hunt in a non-lethal way as well, like when you hunt all over your house for your lost car keys, or your little brother hunts for you during a game of hide-and-seek. The Old English root of hunt is huntian, "chase game."
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.
See Examples For:
Her timeline accelerated by more than a decade after a 2025 layoff and an unsuccessful job hunt.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 30, 2026
They are the only mammals capable of sustained powered flight, and most species can navigate and hunt in darkness using sound.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 30, 2026
The group, part of a national network, said demand had risen and it was on the hunt for more volunteers.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026
After trawling through dozens of applications, the hunt is over: an Australian animal welfare group has found a successor to a hero hound credited with saving more than 100 koalas from fires.
From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026
“Wherever they roam, they hunt and murder songbirds. In fact, the domesticated house cat is the only living creature more destructive than human beings!”
From "Klawde: Evil Alien Warlord Cat" by Johnny Marciano and Emily Chenoweth
Hunter Hunt, CEO of Hunt Energy Holdings, said he was confident that such "infrastructural weaknesses" could be solved "quite quickly."
From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026
He was transported to the Hunt County dentention center and booked on the Southlake warrant.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 29, 2026
Hunt Transport Services is making a big push to hire new drivers, but chief financial officer Brad Delco warned investors last week that the effort will be costly.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026
Hunt also faces at least a $10 million headwind sequentially from the rapid rise in fuel prices.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026
I hope Reverend Hunt would appreciate my effort to be more kind.
From "Blood on the River" by Elisa Carbone
The Secret Service now regularly hunts for skimmers across U.S. cities while educating merchants to spot them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
The steps that had to be followed to find a party or rave added to the fun, turning these events into adrenaline-pumping scavenger hunts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
And Awaze, the European holiday-rental group, says searches for "escape the heat" rose three-fold in the past three months, while hunts for "coolcation" were up more than four-fold.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
The Colosseum, the largest amphitheatre in the world, was built in the first century and was used to host events like animal hunts and gladiatorial games.
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
The summer stretched golden in front of us with promises of picnics and fish frys, blackberry hunts and croquet games till dark.
From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou
Glover connected that idea to Aboriginal traditions in which women historically cared for the fire while men hunted.
From Salon ● Sep. 27, 2026
I recently watched with smug satisfaction as OpenAI’s GPT-6 Astra model hunted through spreadsheets to reconcile an uncooperative credit card statement and then navigated QuickBooks to make sure it was reflected in the right places.
From Slate ● Sep. 23, 2026
As a young man, by his account, he smuggled diamonds, oversaw coconut plantations, dynamited fish, captained schooners and hunted killer cannibals in the New Guinea jungle.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
He was a sad figure adrift, a relic virtually alone until he was hunted down by the CIA and French intelligence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
Charlie hunted me up at recess with this news.
From "The Best School Year Ever" by Barbara Robinson
A licence issued by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, seen by local media, authorises the hunting of 23celephants and other wild animals for "complimentary purposes".
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026
They have lived by hunting, fishing and reindeer herding for thousands of years, and been subjected to colonisation for centuries.
From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026
The profiles track whether buyers are preparing for back-to-school, moving, collecting rare books or hunting for gifts, getting sharper the more someone shops.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
A lot of the sports that you practice, whether that be hog hunting, coyote hunting, or just hunting, they’re associated with firearms.
From Slate ● Sep. 28, 2026
“Jay Berry,” she said, “if you just have to go monkey hunting again, why can’t you wait until later in the day? By then, the sun will have things pretty well dried out.”
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
