manhunt
Americannoun
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an intensive search for a criminal, suspect, escaped convict, etc., as by law enforcement agencies.
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an intensive search for any person.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of manhunt
Explanation
When police assemble a team to search for a criminal, it's called a manhunt, even if the person they're looking for is a woman. After an armed bank robbery or a prison escape is reported, the local police department sometimes launches a manhunt to search for the perpetrator. The crime that's been committed has to be fairly serious to result in a manhunt, because it requires extra officers. In some cases, the FBI might even get involved in a manhunt.
Vocabulary lists containing manhunt
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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.
Sivan and Loushy, who also helmed the acclaimed 2025 docuseries “American Manhunt: Osama bin Laden,” said they treated “Reality Check” with the same level of care as previous heavyweight projects.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 16, 2026
Much like one of its secondary characters, "Manhunt" is a peculiar kind of double agent.
From Salon • Mar. 15, 2024
You can find out more about the role played by Capt Victor Cross on the BBC documentary Rise of the Nazis: The Manhunt.
From BBC • Nov. 11, 2023
“A Writer Prepares” captures a pre-Internet, pre-superstore business that included such publications as Manhunt, Trapped and Keyhole, and some institutions that only the most cynical writer would have imagined on his own.
From Seattle Times • May 27, 2021
During the nine months he worked for Scott Meredith, Block managed to sell a story of his own to Manhunt magazine, which led him to concentrate his youthful energies on crime fiction.
From Washington Post • Apr. 28, 2021
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.
