pursuing

[per-soo-ing]

adjective

1. following someone or something in order to overtake, capture, woo, etc..

   Informed via radio that the alleged crime concerned an unpaid bill, the pursuing officers took down the vehicle's license plate information and stopped the chase.

2. continuing to accompany or affect someone, as success, bad luck, or fame.

   They renewed their love, were once more torn apart by pursuing misfortune, but in the end were happily reunited.

3. following or seeming to follow someone or something with one’s eyes, voice, thoughts, etc..

   He stared fearfully at the pursuing eyes of a portrait on the wall.

4. following or coming immediately after; ensuing.

   The program focuses on core courses in the first semester, and allows students to take their electives in the pursuing two semesters.

Other Word Forms

• unpursuing adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of pursuing¹

pursu(e) ( def. ) + -ing ² ( def. )

Example Sentences

Department of Education designation, students pursuing graduate degrees in nursing and at least seven other fields, including social work and education, would face tighter federal student loan limits.

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She joins a search party, and she’s hooked on this thrill of helping find the body of this missing girl, and then decides to start pursuing leads.

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Glass Lewis is thus updating its house-recommendation approach and pursuing additional initiatives to build trust in the market in at least three ways.

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A sale of those properties, “I think from that perspective, would not be something, at least where we sit today, that we would be interested in pursuing.”

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Target-date funds — and other investors similarly pursuing autopilot portfolios — were required to flood the market with safe Treasury bonds so they could buy stocks.

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