PURSUER

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does pursuer mean? 

• PURSUER (noun)
  The noun PURSUER has 2 senses:

1. a person who is pursuing and trying to overtake or capture

2. a person who pursues some plan or goal

  Familiarity information: PURSUER used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PURSUER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A person who is pursuing and trying to overtake or capture

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

chaser; pursuer

Context example:

always before he had been able to outwit his pursuers

Hypernyms ("pursuer" is a kind of...):

follower (someone who travels behind or pursues another)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pursuer"):

bounty hunter (someone who pursues fugitives or criminals for whom a reward is offered)

Derivation:

pursue (follow in or as if in pursuit)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A person who pursues some plan or goal

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Context example:

a pursuer of truth

Hypernyms ("pursuer" is a kind of...):

individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)

Derivation:

pursue (carry out or participate in an activity; be involved in)

 Context examples 

We had shaken off our pursuers and were safe.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

We zig-zagged swiftly here and there over Europe to throw off the pursuers and finally returned to this house, which he had taken upon his first arrival in England.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A roar of cheering and of laughter broke from the rough archers and seamen at the sight, answered by a yell of rage from their pursuers.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

White Fang had learned to turn suddenly upon the pursuer that was ahead of the pack and thoroughly to rip him up before the pack could arrive.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

I shall always remember as we looked back how far behind we could see the heads and necks of our horrible pursuers rising and falling amid the reeds.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

They come in spite of it, and when the husband mentions casually to the wife that there are new-comers in the cottage, she knows in some way that they are her pursuers.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

We could distinguish clearly the individuals of each party, the pursued and the pursuers.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

But his pursuers forestalling him, he doubled back across the cabin, passed over the galley, and gained the deck by means of the steerage-scuttle.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the particulars of my night’s adventure, and I sprang to my feet with the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The few who threw themselves in their way were overpowered or brushed aside, while the pursuers were beaten back by the ready weapons of the three cavaliers.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)