What does trace mean?

What does trace mean?. The world's largest and most trusted free online dictionary: definitions, synonyms, word origins, example sentences, word games, and more.

What does trace mean? - The Free Dictionary

Search

[n] a just detectable amount(he speaks French with a trace of an accent)[v] follow, discover, or ascertain the course of development of something(We must follow closely the economic development is Cuba trace the student's progress)[n] an indication that something has been present(there was

trace

trace - The Free Dictionary

[n] a just detectable amount
(he speaks French with a trace of an accent)

[v] follow, discover, or ascertain the course of development of something
(We must follow closely the economic development is Cuba trace the student's progress)

[n] an indication that something has been present
(there wasn't a trace of evidence for the claim a tincture of condescension)

[v] make a mark or lines on a surface
(draw a line trace the outline of a figure in the sand)

[n] a suggestion of some quality
(there was a touch of sarcasm in his tone he detected a ghost of a smile on her face)

[v] to go back over again
(we retraced the route we took last summer trace your path)

[n] a drawing created by superimposing a semitransparent sheet of paper on the original image and copying on it the lines of the original image

[v] pursue or chase relentlessly
(The hunters traced the deer into the woods the detectives hounded the suspect until they found him)

[n] either of two lines that connect a horse's harness to a wagon or other vehicle or to a whiffletree

[v] discover traces of
(She traced the circumstances of her birth)

[n] a visible mark (as a footprint) left by the passage of person or animal or vehicle

[v] make one's course or travel along a path; travel or pass over, around, or along
(The children traced along the edge of the dark forest The women traced the pasture)

[v] copy by following the lines of the original drawing on a transparent sheet placed upon it; make a tracing of
(trace a design trace a pattern)

[v] read with difficulty
(Can you decipher this letter? The archeologist traced the hieroglyphs)

Other vocabulary

'tween, 'tween decks, t, t cell, t hinge, t lymphocyte, t'ai chi, t'ai chi chuan, t'ien-ching, t-bar, t-bar lift, t-bill, t-bone steak, t-junction, t-man, t-network, t-scope, t-shaped, t-shirt, t-square, t. e. lawrence, t. h. white, t. s. eliot, t.b., ta, ta'ziyeh, taal, tab, tab key, tabanidae, r, r and b, r-2, r. b. cattell, r. buckminster fuller, r. j. mitchell, r.c., r.v., ra, rabat, rabato, rabbet, rabbet joint, rabbet plane, rabbi, rabbi moses ben maimon, rabbinate, rabbinic, rabbinical, rabbit, rabbit bandicoot, rabbit brush, rabbit burrow, rabbit bush, rabbit ears, rabbit fever, rabbit food, rabbit hole, rabbit hutch, rabbit on

Dictionary

A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically (or by consonantal root for Semitic languages or radical and stroke for ideographic languages), which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologies, pronunciations, translation, etc. It is a lexicographical reference that shows inter-relationships among the data.

A broad distinction is made between general and specialized dictionaries. Specialized dictionaries include words in specialist fields, rather than a complete range of words in the language. Lexical items that describe concepts in specific fields are usually called terms instead of words, although there is no consensus whether lexicology and terminology are two different fields of study. In theory, general dictionaries are supposed[citation needed] to be semasiological, mapping word to definition, while specialized dictionaries are supposed to be onomasiological, first identifying concepts and then establishing the terms used to designate them. In practice, the two approaches are used for both types. There are other types of dictionaries that do not fit neatly into the above distinction, for instance bilingual (translation) dictionaries, dictionaries of synonyms (thesauri), and rhyming dictionaries. The word dictionary (unqualified) is usually understood to refer to a general purpose monolingual dictionary.

There is also a contrast between prescriptive or descriptive dictionaries; the former reflect what is seen as correct use of the language while the latter reflect recorded actual use. Stylistic indications (e.g. "informal" or "vulgar") in many modern dictionaries are also considered by some to be less than objectively descriptive.

The first recorded dictionaries date back to Sumerian times around 2300 BCE, in the form of bilingual dictionaries, and the oldest surviving monolingual dictionaries are Chinese dictionaries c. 3rd century BCE. The first purely English alphabetical dictionary was A Table Alphabeticall, written in 1604, and monolingual dictionaries in other languages also began appearing in Europe at around this time. The systematic study of dictionaries as objects of scientific interest arose as a 20th-century enterprise, called lexicography, and largely initiated by Ladislav Zgusta. The birth of the new discipline was not without controversy, with the practical dictionary-makers being sometimes accused by others of having an "astonishing" lack of method and critical-self reflection.