manhunt
Americannoun
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manhunts
plural
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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.
See Examples For:
The first episode of the Channel Five series "Cause of Death", which will explore the manhunt and huge social media interest around the case, will air at 21:00 BST on Wednesday.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026
Jacob Tremblay, Russell Crowe and Shailene Woodley star in a film that splits its story between the manhunt for Ted Kaczynski and his years as a Harvard student decades before.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
Mangione fled, and was later arrested in a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pa. after a dayslong manhunt.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
He was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on December 9 following a tip from staff at a McDonald's restaurant, after a days-long manhunt.
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
They would conduct the biggest manhunt since the Dillinger case, they said.
From "While the World Watched: A Birmingham Bombing Survivor Comes of Age during the Civil Rights Movement" by Carolyn Maull McKinstry
Freeman then disappeared into dense bushland, sparking one of Australia's largest ever manhunts.
From BBC ● May 26, 2026
Hundreds of police have pursued Freeman through the region's rugged terrain over the past seven months, pouring resources into one of Australia's largest manhunts.
From Barron's ● Mar. 30, 2026
The bureau spared no resources in finding the culprit, using powerful digital tools that produced a sea of information so detailed that it surprised even longtime investigators who were no strangers to complicated manhunts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 14, 2025
The contrast between the two manhunts has been stark: while the national media has tracked every development in Cavalcante’s flight, Haynes has basically dropped off the map.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 13, 2023
What good did it do to know that the Lhari council in another galaxy would have condemned the murders and manhunts, when they were going on in this one, day after day?
From The Colors of Space by Marion Zimmer Bradley
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