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
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.
But Loushy said that she stewarded this project with the same care that she did the duo’s acclaimed 2025 docuseries “American Manhunt: Osama bin Laden.”
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 16, 2026
"Manhunt" lingered in development hell for around 20 years before she took on the project.
From Salon • Apr. 15, 2024
Actress Patricia Brake, known for her roles in BBC sitcom Porridge and ITV drama Manhunt, has died aged 79 after a long battle with cancer, her family has said.
From BBC • May 29, 2022
“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.
