Tracer

//ˈtɹeɪsə(ɹ)// noun

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A compound, element, or isotope used to track the progress or history of a natural process.
  2. 2
    ammunition whose flight can be observed by a trail of smoke wordnet
  3. 3
    A round of ammunition for a firearm that contains magnesium or another flammable substance arranged such that it will burn and produce a visible trail when fired in the dark.
  4. 4
    (radiology) any radioactive isotope introduced into the body to study metabolism or other biological processes wordnet
  5. 5
    The act or state of tracking or investigating something.

    "We have a five-man tracer on him now. He's heading for a Vorster cell on Michigan Boulevard, and he's drunk as a lord. Should we intercept him?"

Show 6 more definitions
  1. 6
    an instrument used to make tracings wordnet
  2. 7
    A request to trace the movements of a person or an object, such as a shipment.

    "The next morning when she awoke, she told Darcy what had happened, and Darcy agreed that she should go to the police and this time ask them if they could put a tracer on her incoming phone calls, just in case he called again."

  3. 8
    an investigator who is employed to find missing persons or missing goods wordnet
  4. 9
    A person who traces something.
  5. 10
    A device or instrument used to assist in making tracings.
  6. 11
    A process that traces something, such as the path of execution of a program during debugging.

Etymology

From trace + -er.

Next best steps

Mini challenge

Unscramble this word: tracer