as in pursuit
the act of going after or in the tracks of another
the detectives' trailing of the suspect led them to the stolen merchandise
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
as in chasing
to go after or on the track of
we trailed our friend into the woods, inadvertently spoiling his plans for a solitary hike
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of trailing
Josh Robbins, The Athletic, 24 Dec. 2024
Then with 47 seconds left, trailing 106-104, Curry dribbled into a stepback 3 from the left corner for the lead.
—Anthony Slater, The Athletic, 24 Dec. 2024
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, with a trailing price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 27, and the S&P 500 Index’s P/E at 24, are both distorted by tech stocks, such as Nvidia (NVDA).
—Lawrence Carrel, Forbes, 24 Dec. 2024
As with Bigsby, Spears is game script dependent, but Spears’ script is when trailing and needing to pass more.
—Jake Ciely, The Athletic, 24 Dec. 2024
Tangent Palantir is 2024’s third-best performing stock of any public company worth at least $50 billion regardless of S&P status, trailing only marketing software firm Applovin (756% gain) and bitcoin hoarder MicroStrategy (477%).
—Derek Saul, Forbes, 24 Dec. 2024
At its current levels of $13, RUM stock is trading at 31x trailing revenues, which seems to be high.
—Trefis Team, Forbes, 24 Dec. 2024
Palantir is by far the most expensive stock on the S&P by its price-to-sales ratio, a metric comparing companies’ trailing 12-month revenues to its market value.
—Derek Saul, Forbes, 24 Dec. 2024
On Saturday, Moe Wagner suffered a knee injury and the Magic, trailing by 22 points at the end of the third quarter, rallied to beat the Miami Heat, outscoring the Heat 37-8 in the final quarter.
—Josh Robbins, The Athletic, 24 Dec. 2024
Verb
Mosley finished as the runner-up for NBA Coach of the Year last season, trailing only Oklahoma City’s Mark Daigneault.
—Josh Robbins, The Athletic, 24 Dec. 2024
Then with 47 seconds left, trailing 106-104, Curry dribbled into a stepback 3 from the left corner for the lead.
—Anthony Slater, The Athletic, 24 Dec. 2024
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, with a trailing price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 27, and the S&P 500 Index’s P/E at 24, are both distorted by tech stocks, such as Nvidia (NVDA).
—Lawrence Carrel, Forbes, 24 Dec. 2024
As with Bigsby, Spears is game script dependent, but Spears’ script is when trailing and needing to pass more.
—Jake Ciely, The Athletic, 24 Dec. 2024
Tangent Palantir is 2024’s third-best performing stock of any public company worth at least $50 billion regardless of S&P status, trailing only marketing software firm Applovin (756% gain) and bitcoin hoarder MicroStrategy (477%).
—Derek Saul, Forbes, 24 Dec. 2024
At its current levels of $13, RUM stock is trading at 31x trailing revenues, which seems to be high.
—Trefis Team, Forbes, 24 Dec. 2024
Palantir is by far the most expensive stock on the S&P by its price-to-sales ratio, a metric comparing companies’ trailing 12-month revenues to its market value.
—Derek Saul, Forbes, 24 Dec. 2024
On Saturday, Moe Wagner suffered a knee injury and the Magic, trailing by 22 points at the end of the third quarter, rallied to beat the Miami Heat, outscoring the Heat 37-8 in the final quarter.
—Josh Robbins, The Athletic, 24 Dec. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for trailing
Noun
-
Do not let naysayers stop you from your heart’s pursuit.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes.com,
4 May 2025
-
The formal agenda of the Federal Communications Commission's open meeting this week seemed well in line with its normal wonky pursuits.—
Steven Levy,
Wired News,
2 May 2025
Noun
-
Eric Church’s New Album Debuts In its first full tracking frame, Evangeline Vs.—
Hugh McIntyre,
Forbes.com,
15 May 2025
-
These measurements are tracked by Billboard and Luminate, and cover the data tracking eligibility period of March 22, 2024, through March 20, 2025.—
Paul Grein,
Billboard,
15 May 2025
Verb
-
Nebraska is all in on pursuing Millard South tight end Isaac Jensen.—
Mitch Sherman,
The Athletic,
31 Dec. 2024
-
With such an unstable organization, this could dissuade Vrabel from pursuing a head-coaching gig with New York.—
George Monastiriakos,
Newsweek,
30 Dec. 2024
Noun
-
Genetic tracing of market wildlife and viruses at the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic Before joining Discover Magazine, Paul Smaglik spent over 20 years as a science journalist, specializing in U.S. life science policy and global scientific career issues.—
Paul Smaglik,
Discover Magazine,
7 May 2025
-
And its tracing of spatial distributions emerges from spying enormous bubblelike arrangements of galaxies thought to have formed from more primordial templates, called baryon acoustic oscillations (BAOs).—
Lyndie Chiou,
Scientific American,
30 Apr. 2025
Verb
-
Major stock markets in Asia and Europe rose today in trading following the announcement of electronics exemptions.—
Alexis Simendinger,
The Hill,
14 Apr. 2025
-
Swim in a direction following the shoreline.—
NC Weather Bot,
Charlotte Observer,
14 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
Scandium can be extracted from mine tailings, or as a by-product of mining for uranium or other metals.—
Bloomberg,
Mercury News,
17 Apr. 2025
-
That includes decommissioning many miles of logging roads, removing mine tailings and sowing tens of thousands of native plants.—
Alyssa Kreikemeier,
The Conversation,
28 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Trailing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/trailing. Accessed 19 May. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share