contact trace

verb

contact traced; contact tracing; contact traces

intransitive verb

: to identify, notify, and monitor individuals who may have had close contact with a person having a confirmed or probable case of infectious disease : to engage in the practice of contact tracing

How well a college contact traces, places infected students in isolation, disseminates a steady stream of messaging to students about following safety practices and punishes offenders all have an impact on how much the virus spreads, [Gonzalo] Bearman said.

—Eric Kolenich

Campbell County Public Health … also contact traces for diseases like measles and whooping cough, where a dozen cases qualifies as an outbreak.

—Johnathan Gallardo and Mike Moore

Yet the only way we'll all win is if we'll do everything possible between now and then—wear a mask, wash our hands, socially distance, contact trace—to put this coronavirus permanently in our rearview mirror in order to return to our old normal every hour of every day.

—Mark Wiedmer

transitive verb

: to identify and notify (someone) through contact tracing

Unfortunately, over the course of the following days, three of my friends … tested positive for COVID-19, and I was suddenly contact traced …

—Sophie Mackin

Examples of contact trace in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Ramping up contact tracing is a priority, Kayikwamba Wagner said. —Justin Kabumba, Los Angeles Times, 22 May 2026

The agency said this week that its offices in Congo and Uganda are helping with surveillance, laboratory diagnostics, contact tracing and distributing PPE. —Erika Edwards, NBC news, 20 May 2026

The trajectory of new cases in the next few weeks will reveal whether contact tracing and behavior change are bending the curve. —John Drake, Forbes.com, 19 May 2026

Ideally, an outbreak would be contained in part through careful contact tracing of all individuals who might have been exposed to infectious people. —Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 19 May 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1987, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense

Rhymes for contact trace

• aerospace
• anatase
• anyplace
• commonplace
• cyberspace
• database
• diabase
• diastase
• dnase
• elastase
• fireplace
• hyperspace

Medical Definition

contact trace

verb

intransitive verb

: to identify, notify, and monitor individuals who may have had close contact with a person having a confirmed or probable case of infectious disease : to engage in the practice of contact tracing

Campbell County Public Health … contact traces for diseases like measles and whooping cough, where a dozen cases qualifies as an outbreak.

—Johnathan Gallardo and Mike Moore, The Billings (Montana) Gazette

transitive verb

: to identify and notify (someone) through contact tracing

When a first major outbreak hit Grand Forks, North Dakota, in April, the problem was clear: More than 150 employees of a wind turbine blade factory were infected. The factory shut its doors for several weeks, and public health officials tested and contact traced each case.

—Sarah Mervosh and Lucy Tompkins, The Houston Chronicle