PURSUE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does pursue mean? 

• PURSUE (verb)
  The verb PURSUE has 4 senses:

1. carry out or participate in an activity; be involved in

2. follow in or as if in pursuit

3. go in search of or hunt for

4. carry further or advance

  Familiarity information: PURSUE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PURSUE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they pursue    ... he / she / it pursues   
Past simple: pursued   
Past participle: pursued   
-ing form: pursuing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Carry out or participate in an activity; be involved in

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

engage; prosecute; pursue

Context example:

They engaged in a discussion

Hypernyms (to "pursue" is one way to...):

act; move (perform an action, or work out or perform (an action))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "pursue"):

commit; practice (engage in or perform)

close (engage at close quarters)

politick (engage in political activities)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

pursuer (a person who pursues some plan or goal)

pursuit (a diversion that occupies one's time and thoughts (usually pleasantly))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Follow in or as if in pursuit

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

follow; pursue

Context example:

Her bad deed followed her and haunted her dreams all her life

Hypernyms (to "pursue" is one way to...):

go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)

Verb group:

follow; surveil; survey (keep under surveillance)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "pursue"):

stalk (go through (an area) in search of prey)

chase; chase after; dog; give chase; go after; tag; tail; track; trail (go after with the intent to catch)

haunt; stalk (follow stealthily or recur constantly and spontaneously to)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

They pursue the car down the avenue

Derivation:

pursuer (a person who is pursuing and trying to overtake or capture)

pursuit (the act of pursuing in an effort to overtake or capture)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Go in search of or hunt for

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

go after; pursue; quest after; quest for

Context example:

pursue a hobby

Hypernyms (to "pursue" is one way to...):

look for; search; seek (try to locate or discover, or try to establish the existence of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

pursuance; pursuit (a search for an alternative that meets cognitive criteria)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Carry further or advance

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

act on; follow up on; pursue

Context example:

Can you act on this matter soon?

Hypernyms (to "pursue" is one way to...):

oppose; react (act against or in opposition to)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "pursue"):

check out; run down (trace)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

pursuance (the continuance of something begun with a view to its completion)

pursuant ((followed by 'to') in conformance to or agreement with)

 Context examples 

I asked him again if it were really necessary that they should pursue the Count, for oh!

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Where did I go? I pursued wanderings as wild as those of the March-spirit.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

They began to flee, but the youth pursued, and never stopped, until there was not a single man left.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

—Has nothing, pursued Traddles, to do with that.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Bibles and Prayer-books seemed scarce articles, but one of the men volunteered to pursue the quest amongst the watch below, returning in a minute with the information that there was none.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

She could see no other righteous course to pursue.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

This idea pursued me and tormented me at every moment from which I might otherwise have snatched repose and peace.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Inhibitors of the EGF receptor are being pursued as potential cancer therapies and EGF may stimulate wound healing.

(EGF Signaling Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

The investigators are hoping to test this concept by pursuing studies in people.

(Monoclonal antibodies against Zika show promise in monkey study, National Institutes of Health)

Yet he knew that it was not permitted him to pursue and drag them down.

(White Fang, by Jack London)