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.
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Recent Examples of trailing
The Editors,
JSTOR Daily,
25 June 2026
Austria was in striking distance trailing by one goal until the final moments, when Messi scored his second goal.
—
Charles Baggarly,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
22 June 2026
Positive trailing returns outside of tech are not a bad thing!
—
Josh Brown,sean Russo,
CNBC,
15 June 2026
The combination has left New York trailing by as many as nine points.
—
Andrew Greif,
NBC news,
9 June 2026
The bigger issue is that Jason Adam has pitched with a lead once in his past five appearances and Jeremiah Estrada has gone six appearances pitching in either a tie game or with the Padres trailing.
—
Kevin Acee,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
4 June 2026
Training plants to stay off the ground instead of trailing prevents many common fungal diseases, fruit spots, and rots.
—
Megan Hughes,
Better Homes & Gardens,
31 May 2026
Before 2014, bull kelp—a whip-like kelp with bulbous air bladders and trailing blades —stretched across Northern California’s coastline in dense tangles.
—
Tatjana Baleta,
Time,
28 May 2026
Though polls leading up to the election showed Cornyn trailing, most failed to accurately predict the sweeping scale of the incumbent’s loss.
—
Emily Hallas,
The Washington Examiner,
27 May 2026
Andrew Greif,
NBC news,
20 June 2026
Miles is the runaway choice for WNBA rookie of the Year, according to oddsmakers, with -2500 odds at this point, and even factors into the MVP race with the fifth-best odds (+2000), trailing Wilson, Bueckers, Plum and Clark.
—
Lawrence Dow,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
19 June 2026
After trailing by as many as 20 points in the third quarter, the Sparks cut the margin to 10.
—
Jordan Puente,
Los Angeles Times,
18 June 2026
The probe will then use our planet’s gravity to pick up speed for an encounter with another binary asteroid in the Trojan cloud trailing Jupiter in 2033.
—
Lee Billings,
Scientific American,
18 June 2026
This concern was highlighted by the Silicon Valley Bank collapse in 2023, a liquidity crisis trailing only Washington Mutual's in 2008.
—
Expert Panel®,
Forbes.com,
18 June 2026
Each tiny stem and leaf was mounted one by one, by hand, trailing dramatically down the body.
—
Jill Newman,
Robb Report,
18 June 2026
After trailing for the entire third quarter, the Knicks rallied in the fourth as OG Anunoby finished with 28 points, Jalen Brunson had 25 points and Mitchell Robinson pulled down 15 rebounds.
—
Mark Prussin,
CBS News,
18 June 2026
After trailing by nearly 500 votes on election night, the deficit narrowed to 238 votes.
—
Daniel Lempres,
Sacbee.com,
17 June 2026
Noun
Over a century later, the Himalayan blackberry has spread far beyond the modest backyard bounds its importers envisioned, opting instead to take over indiscriminately and displace the native trailing blackberry (Rubus ursinus) in the process.
—
The Editors,
JSTOR Daily,
25 June 2026
Austria was in striking distance trailing by one goal until the final moments, when Messi scored his second goal.
—
Charles Baggarly,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
22 June 2026
Positive trailing returns outside of tech are not a bad thing!
—
Josh Brown,sean Russo,
CNBC,
15 June 2026
The combination has left New York trailing by as many as nine points.
—
Andrew Greif,
NBC news,
9 June 2026
The bigger issue is that Jason Adam has pitched with a lead once in his past five appearances and Jeremiah Estrada has gone six appearances pitching in either a tie game or with the Padres trailing.
—
Kevin Acee,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
4 June 2026
Training plants to stay off the ground instead of trailing prevents many common fungal diseases, fruit spots, and rots.
—
Megan Hughes,
Better Homes & Gardens,
31 May 2026
Before 2014, bull kelp—a whip-like kelp with bulbous air bladders and trailing blades —stretched across Northern California’s coastline in dense tangles.
—
Tatjana Baleta,
Time,
28 May 2026
Though polls leading up to the election showed Cornyn trailing, most failed to accurately predict the sweeping scale of the incumbent’s loss.
—
Emily Hallas,
The Washington Examiner,
27 May 2026
Verb
Haiti already faced an uphill climb to get back into this game trailing 2-0, but now their opportunity to draw a point looks positively grim.
—
Andrew Greif,
NBC news,
20 June 2026
Miles is the runaway choice for WNBA rookie of the Year, according to oddsmakers, with -2500 odds at this point, and even factors into the MVP race with the fifth-best odds (+2000), trailing Wilson, Bueckers, Plum and Clark.
—
Lawrence Dow,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
19 June 2026
After trailing by as many as 20 points in the third quarter, the Sparks cut the margin to 10.
—
Jordan Puente,
Los Angeles Times,
18 June 2026
The probe will then use our planet’s gravity to pick up speed for an encounter with another binary asteroid in the Trojan cloud trailing Jupiter in 2033.
—
Lee Billings,
Scientific American,
18 June 2026
This concern was highlighted by the Silicon Valley Bank collapse in 2023, a liquidity crisis trailing only Washington Mutual's in 2008.
—
Expert Panel®,
Forbes.com,
18 June 2026
Each tiny stem and leaf was mounted one by one, by hand, trailing dramatically down the body.
—
Jill Newman,
Robb Report,
18 June 2026
After trailing for the entire third quarter, the Knicks rallied in the fourth as OG Anunoby finished with 28 points, Jalen Brunson had 25 points and Mitchell Robinson pulled down 15 rebounds.
—
Mark Prussin,
CBS News,
18 June 2026
After trailing by nearly 500 votes on election night, the deficit narrowed to 238 votes.
—
Daniel Lempres,
Sacbee.com,
17 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for trailing
Noun
-
Yet The Bear has always been equally attuned to the tension at the heart of that pursuit.
-
The pursuit lasted around five minutes before the suspect successfully evaded officers.
Verb
-
The lightweight, toner-meets-serum formula also layers in niacinamide and adenosine for anyone chasing a bouncy, healthy glow.
-
To survive and grow, more wealth management firms are chasing the surging ranks of the extremely wealthy and their more profitable accounts.
Noun
-
Concerns about affording healthcare in the year ahead were at a record high since tracking began in 2021, signaling that many were feeling anxious about rising healthcare costs as 2025 ended.
-
Accountants and auditors These professionals keep the books for companies and organizations, tracking, verifying and reporting financial figures.
Verb
-
Trump is pursuing his election changes through Congress, too.
-
The parts of the declaration worth knowing about are the soaring sentences in the opening paragraphs about self-evident truths, pursuing happiness and all men being created equal.
Noun
-
Contact tracing and care are hampered by conflict, mass displacement and funding gaps, with only 4,000 of up to 35,000 contacts identified and just 84 of 540 responders deployed.
-
The funds would come from the Commodity Credit Corporation, a funding initiative through the federal agency, and would go toward tracing, surveying and trapping response programs for the next three years.
Verb
-
Even more lore is on the way when House of the Dragon returns for season 3 on June 21 following season 2's bloody end.
-
The threat to Starmer's premiership has been building for months following bruising defeats for his party in May local and regional elections.
Noun
-
Unlike other hard metals, tungsten is largely nontoxic, but the byproducts from mining it—called tailings—contain other harmful metals including arsenic, copper, zinc and lead and can leach into the environment.
-
Initial environmental analytics work will focus on water quality, particulate emissions, geotechnical stability, tailings performance, biodiversity indicators and carbon intensity per metric ton produced.
Verb
-
And then there's a southern route that the United States military has been escorting ships through for several weeks.
-
The former talent manager was pictured escorting her out of the premiere afterparty on April 7.
Cite this Entry
“Trailing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/trailing. Accessed 27 Jun. 2026.
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