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
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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
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Recent Examples of trailing
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
Via MoneyPuck Score effects were a factor here; leading teams often go into a defensive shell to protect that edge, while trailing teams can pump up the shots and risk to get back into the game.
—Shayna Goldman, New York Times, 20 May 2026
With 36 seconds left and Atlanta trailing by one, Jordin Canada pounced on an A'ja Wilson turnover, drove the length of the floor and converted a running layup to give the Dream an 84-83 lead.
—Christopher Harris, CBS News, 17 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
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
Via MoneyPuck Score effects were a factor here; leading teams often go into a defensive shell to protect that edge, while trailing teams can pump up the shots and risk to get back into the game.
—Shayna Goldman, New York Times, 20 May 2026
With 36 seconds left and Atlanta trailing by one, Jordin Canada pounced on an A'ja Wilson turnover, drove the length of the floor and converted a running layup to give the Dream an 84-83 lead.
—Christopher Harris, CBS News, 17 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
-
After hours of driving around Los Angeles County, the California Highway Patrol successfully ended the pursuit with a PIT maneuver in Lancaster.—
Matthew Rodriguez,
CBS News,
19 June 2026
-
More a sophisticated salon than sports bar, Champagne is doing the invigorating work for those in the pursuit of luxury and a hat trick that giant LED screens will be doing elsewhere.—
Lilian Raji,
Forbes.com,
18 June 2026
Verb
-
What happens next will be telling—OpenAI and Anthropic are chasing each other to public debuts that are looking increasingly inevitable.—
Allie Garfinkle,
Fortune,
15 June 2026
-
The stallions are known to engage in fierce battles in public spaces, including chasing, kicking and biting.—
Mark Price,
Charlotte Observer,
15 June 2026
Noun
-
For six hours, military and law enforcement personnel searched the sprawling base using real-time intelligence and tracking support from the NCIS Multiple Threat Alert Center and Regional Enforcement Action Capabilities Team.—
Michael Sinkewicz,
FOXNews.com,
14 June 2026
-
Dozens of flights were canceled or delayed Friday at Chicago's O'Hare International and Midway International airports, according to FlightAware, a flight-tracking website.—
DAVE COLLINS,
Arkansas Online,
13 June 2026
Verb
-
The company has been pursuing eliminating its entire legacy copper landline system across the state to replace it with advanced fiber optic networks.—
Steve Large,
CBS News,
18 June 2026
-
Dubai’s largest free zone is pursuing an expansion plan focused around food security, at a time when global supply chain vulnerabilities have been starkly exposed by the Iran war.—
Kelsey Warner,
semafor.com,
17 June 2026
Noun
-
The key finding was that if public health interventions aren’t implemented swiftly and strongly—with contact tracing and case isolation—then the outbreak could rival or exceed the largest Ebola outbreak ever recorded.—
Beth Mole,
ArsTechnica,
12 June 2026
-
That insight allowed the tracing of viral transmission, which in turn enabled him to prove that nurses in hospital maternity wards had been transmitting HSV between infants through a lack of hand-washing.—
Bob Goldsborough,
Chicago Tribune,
12 June 2026
Verb
-
Elsewhere in Ukraine, at least five people have been killed following Russian bombardment in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, according to Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko.—
Victoria Butenko,
CNN Money,
15 June 2026
-
The Limeira City Council is filing a complaint against the Brazilian federal government following the incident, according to the outlet.—
Escher Walcott,
PEOPLE,
14 June 2026
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.—
Ari Sen,
Scientific American,
13 June 2026
-
Initial environmental analytics work will focus on water quality, particulate emissions, geotechnical stability, tailings performance, biodiversity indicators and carbon intensity per metric ton produced.—
Nia Bowers,
USA Today,
8 May 2026
Verb
-
French, American, British and other naval crews already have experience of escorting civilian ships through hostile fire in the region.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
16 June 2026
-
Ladipo says 150 of their players will be escorting players at the eight games at Atlanta Stadium.—
Chelsea Torres,
FOXNews.com,
14 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Trailing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/trailing. Accessed 21 Jun. 2026.
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