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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.

Officers deployed a helicopter and set up a perimeter to track down the suspects, and eventually found them hiding in someone’s backyard.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 28, 2026

Their goal was to track down Florida's near-daily summer thunderstorms and observe a phenomenon that had never been confirmed outside a laboratory.

From Science Daily • Apr. 21, 2026

Between her pastoral work and her activism on the ground, she wasn’t easy to track down.

From Salon • Apr. 6, 2026

They helped confirm the accuracy of stories, and track down celebrities for a response.

From BBC • Mar. 31, 2026

“Are you guys serious? You want to track down some homeless dude you barely know?”

From "Auggie & Me" by R. J. Palacio

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.