Trace

trace (verb) - look for and find something, follow the development of something from its beginnings

a trace (noun) - a sign that shows you that something has been at this place, a small amount of something left over

traceable (adjective)  

vanish without a trace
Thaksin vanished without a trace, only to show up on another continent several days later

the contaminated food had traces of industrial chemicals in it

trace the route
investigators traced the approximate route of the Number 211 bus

trace the letter back to its source
the airlined traced lost luggage everyday

the trace of a colour
the blouse was not lustrous but a dull blue, throwing off a shade of lavender, a trace of pink

there was a faint trace of irony in her voice
a faint trace
a minute trace
a slight trace
a tiny trace

he left many traces of his presence in the room when he died 

all things are connected in this way; every result bears within itself the trace of its source, an endless chain linking infinite past to infinite future

a trace of a feeling once felt
He tried to conjure up the feeling. After a moment a trace of it came to him and he knew that was all there would be

the searing trace of a bullet above one ear
a scattering of livid marks -- the searing trace of a bullet above one ear, welts across both cheekbones, and greenish bruises

a trace of smoke
a trace of smoke emerging from the trees above the campfire

a trace of drugs

Our CSI guys tested them already. No trace of drugs in any of them

you'll leave no trace at the websites you visit with this cloaking software

she left without a trace
Over 5,000 people have disappeared without a trace

the ship sunk without a trace

couldn't find a trace of him
The police and rangers looked until after dark that night and didn't find a trace of him

after a thorough search they could find no trace of of the missing child

memory traces

trace the passage of an individual tuna from the bloodied decks of a boat to your plate

trace back
he traced his ancestry back to Sweden
could trace their lineage back to Adam

trace their ancestry back a generation or more
trace their line of descent
trace their genealogy
vanished without a trace

found no trace of
the search party found no trace of the Big Foot monster

an advertisement appears full-blown, complete, and' new,' often without a trace of its real origins and history

trace deaths
trace these deaths to two major causes

trace the history
the article traces the history of the controversy surrounding the work since its publication

trace over time
trace the general lines of development ofthe programme over time

He was an accomplished man who, his son says, showed little trace of doubt or depression

trace amounts of a chemical
And the Hydrogen 7 isn't perfectly clean; it emits trace amounts of nitrous oxide

trace one's ethnic origins
Both actresses artfully trace the arc of their characters unfulfillment

you hear no trace of anger or self-pity in his voice

add a trace of chlorine to kill a harmless type of bacteria occasionally detected in water

trace the trouble
Our world is in trouble, and we can trace most of that trouble back to us

Posted by Jon Fernquest at 11:23 AM