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track down

British  

verb

  1. (tr, adverb) to find by tracking or pursuing

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

track down Idioms  
  1. Follow successfully, locate, as in I've been trying to track down that book but haven't had any luck. This term alludes to the literal use of track, “follow the footsteps of.” [Second half of 1800s]


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:

But he says he had a very happy childhood, and had never harboured any desire to track down his birth mother.

From BBC Jul. 23, 2026

Yakubu, the ActionAid director, said the most effective way to counter the misinformation would be to “quickly track down the misleading rumors and pull them down.”

From The Wall Street Journal Jul. 16, 2026

Don’t expect members of my profession to track down the story.

From Salon Jul. 10, 2026

He’s had clients forgo a portion of the credit because they couldn’t track down the EIN at tax time.

From MarketWatch Jul. 6, 2026

The Red Cross had helped Dad track down Abe and his grandma in Little Rock, Arkansas.

From "I Survived Hurricane Katrina, 2005" by Lauren Tarshis

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