track

American  

[trak] / træk /

noun

• tracks
  plural

1. a structure consisting of a pair of parallel lines of rails with their crossties, on which a railroad train, trolley, or the like runs.

2. a wheel rut.

3. evidence, as a mark or a series of marks, that something has passed.

   Synonyms:

   spoor, record, trace

4. Usually tracks footprints or other marks left by an animal, person, or vehicle.

   a lion's tracks; car tracks.

5. a path made or beaten by or as if by the feet of people or animals; trail.

   to follow the track of a murderer.

6. a line of travel or motion.

   the track of a bird.

7. a course or route followed.

8. a course of action, conduct, or procedure.

   on the right track to solve the problem.

9. a path or course made or laid out for some particular purpose.

10. a series or sequence of events or ideas.

11. something associated with making a track, as the wheel span of a vehicle or the tread of a tire.

12. a caterpillar tread.

13. Sports.

    1. a course laid out for running or racing.

    2. the group of sports performed on such a course, as running or hurdling, as distinguished from field events.

    3. both track and field events as a whole.

14. Recording.

    1. a band of recorded sound laid along the length of a magnetic tape.

    2. band.

    3. an individual song or segment of a recording.

       a title track.

    4. a discrete, separate recording that is combined with other parts of a musical recording to produce the final aural version.

       a special rhythm track added to the basic track.

15. Automotive. the distance between the centers of the treads of either the front or rear wheels of a vehicle.

16. Computers. a data-recording path on a storage medium, as a magnetic disk, tape, or drum, that is accessible to a read-write head in a given position as the medium moves past.

17. Slang. tracks, needle marks on the arm, leg, or body of a drug user caused by habitual injections.

18. sound track.

19. a metal strip or rail along which something, as lighting or a curtain, can be mounted or moved.

20. Education. a study program or level of curriculum to which a student is assigned on the basis of aptitude or need; academic course or path.

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verb (used with object)

• tracks,
  present (3rd person singular)
• tracked,
  past participle,  past
• tracking
  present participle

1. to follow or pursue the track, traces, or footprints of.

   Synonyms:

   hunt, stalk

2. to follow (a track, course, etc.).

3. to make one's way through; traverse.

4. to leave footprints on (often followed by up oron ).

   to track the floor with muddy shoes.

5. to make a trail of footprints with (dirt, snow, or the like).

   The dog tracked mud all over the living room rug.

6. to observe or monitor the course or path of (an aircraft, rocket, satellite, star, etc.), as by radar or radio signals.

7. to observe or follow the course of progress of; keep track of.

8. to furnish with a track or tracks, as for railroad trains.

9. Railroads. to have (a certain distance) between wheels, runners, rails, etc.

verb (used without object)

• tracks,
  present (3rd person singular)
• tracked,
  past participle,  past
• tracking
  present participle

1. to follow or pursue a track or trail.

2. to run in the same track, as the wheels of a vehicle.

3. to be in alignment, as one gearwheel with another.

4. to have a specified span between wheels or runners.

   The car's wheels track about five feet.

5. Movies, Television. dolly.

6. Recording. to follow the undulations in the grooves of a phonograph record.

verb phrase

1. track down to pursue until caught or captured; follow.

   to track down a killer.

idioms

1. lose track, to fail to keep informed; neglect to keep a record.

   He soon lost track of how much money he had spent.

2. make tracks, to go or depart in a hurry.

   to make tracks for the store before closing time.

3. keep track, to be aware; keep informed.

   Have you been keeping track of the time?

4. on the track of, in search or pursuit of; close upon.

   They are on the track of a solution to the problem.

5. in one's tracks, in the spot in which one is or is standing at the moment.

   He stopped dead in his tracks, listening for the sound to be repeated.

6. off the track, departing from the objective or the subject at hand; astray.

   He can't tell a story without getting off the track.

7. on the wrong / right side of the tracks, from a poor or wealthy part of a community or of society.

   born on the wrong side of the tracks.

track British  

/ træk /

noun

1. the mark or trail left by something that has passed by

   the track of an animal

2. any road or path affording passage, esp a rough one

3. a rail or pair of parallel rails on which a vehicle, such as a locomotive, runs, esp the rails together with the sleepers, ballast, etc, on a railway

4. a course of action, thought, etc

   don't start on that track again!

5. a line of motion or travel, such as flight

6. an endless jointed metal band driven by the wheels of a vehicle such as a tank or tractor to enable it to move across rough or muddy ground

7. physics the path of a particle of ionizing radiation as observed in a cloud chamber, bubble chamber, or photographic emulsion

8. 1. a course for running or racing

   2. ( as modifier )

      track events

9. 1. sports performed on a track

   2. track and field events as a whole

10. a path on a magnetic recording medium, esp magnetic tape, on which information, such as music or speech, from a single input channel is recorded

11. any of a number of separate sections in the recording on a record, CD, or cassette

12. a metal path that makes the interconnections on an integrated circuit

13. the distance between the points of contact with the ground of a pair of wheels, such as the front wheels of a motor vehicle or the paired wheels of an aircraft undercarriage

14. a hypothetical trace made on the surface of the earth by a point directly below an aircraft in flight

15. to follow the passage, course, or progress of

16. to fail to follow the passage, course, or progress of

17. See beaten

18. away from what is correct or true

19. on the scent or trail of; pursuing

20. the correct line of investigation, inquiry, etc

21. the incorrect line of investigation, inquiry, etc

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verb

1. to follow the trail of (a person, animal, etc)

2. to follow the flight path of (a satellite, spacecraft, etc) by picking up radio or radar signals transmitted or reflected by it

3. railways

   1. to provide with a track

   2. to run on a track of (a certain width)

4. (of a camera or camera operator) to follow (a moving object) in any direction while operating

5. to move (a camera) towards the scene ( track in ) or away from the scene ( track out )

6. to follow a track through (a place)

   to track the jungles

7. (intr) (of the pick-up, stylus, etc, of a record player) to follow the groove of a record

   the pick-up tracks badly

track More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing track

• cover one's tracks
• drop in one's tracks
• fast track
• follow in someone's footsteps (tracks)
• inside track
• jump the track
• keep (lose) track
• make tracks
• off the beaten track
• off the track
• on the right tack (track)
• one-track mind
• right side of the tracks
• stop cold (in one's tracks)

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• trackability
  noun
• tracker
  noun
• retrack
  verb
• multitrack
  verb (used with object)
• trackable
  adjective
• untrackable
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• tracks
  plural

Participles

• tracking
  present
• tracked
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• track
  simple
• tracks
  simple
• have tracked
  perfect
• has tracked
  perfect
• am tracking
  progressive
• are tracking
  progressive
• is tracking
  progressive
• have been tracking
  perfect progressive
• has been tracking
  perfect progressive

Past

• tracked
  simple
• had tracked
  perfect
• was tracking
  progressive
• were tracking
  progressive
• had been tracking
  perfect progressive

Future

• will track
  simple
• will have tracked
  perfect
• will be tracking
  progressive
• will have been tracking
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of track

First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English noun trak, tracke, from Old French trac, perhaps of Germanic origin; compare Old Norse trathk “trodden spot,” Norwegian trakke “to trample”; akin to tread

Explanation

If you document your study time and record all your exam scores, then you track your progress in school. In this case the verb track shows that you're following the path of something. The noun track can refer to a path of a more literal kind. The noun track can describe a variety of paths, such as the rails that trains chug along, a course that racehorses run, or the big oval course in an ice rink. If you're competing in a five-lap race and you have the fastest speed after the first four laps, you're on track to win the race. In this case the term "on track" is describing a figurative path, one that indicates you're in a good position to achieve what you want.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

track tracks tracked tracking

Getting back on track, Snell navigated around a pair of singles in the fourth inning, before retiring the Rockies in order in the fifth and sixth.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026

"We will track you to the departure gates if we must," he said at a news conference in Lagos.

From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026

U.S. futures slipped and chip stocks were on track to open lower, with Micron Technology and Applied Materials both weaker.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026

Each fund will track an index based on statistical measures of the team’s wins, losses, ties and other events during games, according to the filing.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026

I cleaned the snow off the window so we could keep track of the weather.

From "Black Star, Bright Dawn" by Scott O'Dell

The designation under the US Marine Mammal Protection Act tracks unexpected die-offs and triggers investigation.

From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026

A talented songwriter, Cecil wrote tracks for Patti Labelle, the Four Tops and the O’Jays.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026

Ricky Bobby spends the rest of his life attempting to follow in his father’s tire tracks, working his way up to be in the big show but not a star.

From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026

There are plans to more than quadruple the number of data centers in Texas, according to Cleanview, which tracks such developments.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026

A boat that resembles an army tank, complete with caterpillar tracks and a periscope, slides past us on the left, putting us dead last.

From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam

Participants completed questionnaires and interviews, while researchers also tracked physiological measures.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 18, 2026

Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman tracked Royals hitter Isaac Collins’ fly ball through foul territory to just outside the visiting dugout at Dodger Stadium.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026

Heidi Beirich, who once tracked hate groups for the SPLC, was indicted in Alabama for her alleged role in the scheme and self-surrendered in California, according to a person familiar with the matter.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

One half would be kept with the soldier, while the other would be sent to German army authorities, which tracked German military casualties and would notify relatives of soldiers' deaths.

From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026

I ignored her and tracked the Ford as it wove through the traffic, my heart galloping in my chest.

From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu

"By carefully tracking the direction the radio waves and X-rays oscillate as the magnetar rotates, the team found that the alignment of 1E1547's magnetic and rotational poles were ideal for detecting vacuum birefringence."

From Science Daily ● Aug. 18, 2026

Today, St. Lawrence said the organization sees 80 to 100 unique whales annually, and just identified its 500th individual whale seen around New York City since tracking began.

From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026

One of the most heavily-traded ETFs tracking performance in the U.S.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026

According to Goepfert, there is no one official source for the stock-market breadth data used in tracking the Omen.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026

“Get real. He’s only even been into tracking for like a day and a half.”

From "Mystery Map (The Hardy Boys: Secret Files, #3)" by Franklin W. Dixon

Related Words

• course
• highway
• lane
• line
• rail
• road
• roadway
• route
• street
• trail