traceable
Americanadjective
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capable of being traced.
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attributable or ascribable (usually followed byto ).
a victory traceable to good coaching.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of traceable
Explanation
If something is traceable, it can be tracked or detected — like an email address or evidence of a crime. The word traceable is just the adjective form of the common verb trace, meaning “to find.” So if you describe something as traceable, that just means that it can be detected. A poison that can be discovered in the body of a murder victim, for example, is a traceable poison. The word can also be used in the sense of something that can be tracked, such as a suspicious money transaction that’s traceable to your bank account. If something is traceable, it has left you a trail to follow it.
Vocabulary lists containing traceable
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.
DDT is a pesticide so dangerous to the environment that it was banned worldwide more than 50 years ago, with rare exceptions; its effects are still traceable in the environment today.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
Unlike the other artifacts with no traceable provenance, these short stories are bad.
From Salon ● May 12, 2026
To overcome this obstacle, the researchers designed a patent-pending staining approach that attaches traceable silver and bromine markers to widely used cellulose- and latex-based binders in graphite- and silicon-based anodes.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 20, 2026
Biometric identification and traceable digital payments would help ensure the money went to the right people.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 27, 2026
By comparison, the oldest prehistoric art that we know of was made only about 35,000 years ago, but it was undoubtedly the culmination of a long development no longer traceable.
From "History of Art, Volume 1" by H.W. Janson
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.
