pursuer
AmericanEtymology
Origin of pursuer
Explanation
A pursuer is someone who is chasing someone or something. You could be a pursuer of truth and beauty, or perhaps a pursuer of the kid who took your lunch money. To pursue is to chase something, like a dog pursuing a squirrel. In that situation, the dog is a pursuer. Someone who’s trying to ask someone else out on a date is a pursuer. When the police are on a manhunt for a criminal, the police are pursuers. You could also say someone is a pursuer of a goal, like a pursuer of a medical degree. All pursuers want something and they're going after it.
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.
That framework gives “Plainclothes” the feeling of an emotional chase film where pursuer and pursued are the same, stuck in a loop of possibility, torn about what being caught really means.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 28, 2025
Her time was 16 minutes, 57.6 seconds, more than 30 seconds faster than her next closest pursuer.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 30, 2024
His delicate chip to the par-five 16th was a shot of sheer class, having seen his plucky pursuer Rose smash a 300-yard driver off the deck on to the green.
From BBC • Jul. 22, 2024
His closest pursuer was Andrew Novak, who was 5 under through nine holes.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 8, 2024
The sounds of his pursuer went on relentlessly, only now with the bone-shuddering addition of cracking and splitting rock joined in.
From "The Maze Runner" by James Dashner
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.
