trailing 1 of 2

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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trailing

2 of 2

verb

present participle of trail

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
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
  • Art environments are the typically fantastical creations of artists working outside of the mainstream who give over their entire homes and yards to their creative pursuits.
    Chadd Scott, Forbes.com, 7 June 2025
  • The leading circumstances surrounding officers' deaths included activities related to responses to unlawful or suspicious activities, pursuits and traffic stops, according to the Justice Department.
    Jon Haworth, ABC News, 6 June 2025
Noun
  • And the President’s feckless tech bros can arbitrarily withhold billions in federal support for everything from cancer research to hurricane tracking.
    Ron Cunningham, The Orlando Sentinel, 8 June 2025
  • SpaceX has accounted for 134 of the 166 orbital launches in the US so far this year, according to tracking by Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
    Paresh Dave, Wired News, 6 June 2025
Verb
  • Nebraska is all in on pursuing Millard South tight end Isaac Jensen.
    Mitch Sherman, The Athletic, 31 Dec. 2024
  • Any international observer should be able to understand Seoul’s reasoning for pursuing a nuclear option.
    Robert E. Kelly, Foreign Affairs, 30 Dec. 2024
Noun
  • Scribble tracing can be a great activity for toddlers to explore nature and their creative side.
    Dr. Pooja Sarin Tandon, Boston Herald, 11 May 2025
  • The costs go to various responses, including on-the-ground response teams, vaccine doses and vaccination clinics, case reporting, contact tracing, mitigation plans, infection prevention, data systems, and other technical assistance to state health departments.
    Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 16 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
  • What To Know In a clip shared to X, formerly Twitter, McIlroy embraces his wife following his victory.
    Thomas G. Moukawsher, MSNBC Newsweek, 14 Apr. 2025
Noun
  • Called tailings or tails, these are the materials left over after the process of separating the valuable parts of the extraction from the other parts.
    Ron Schmelzer, Forbes.com, 9 May 2025
  • 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

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Cite this Entry

“Trailing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/trailing. Accessed 16 Jun. 2025.

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