pur ‧ sue S3 W2 AC /pəˈsjuː $ pərˈsuː/ BrE AmE verb [transitive]
[ Word Family: noun : ↑ pursuer , ↑ pursuit ; verb : ↑ pursue ]
[ Date: 1300-1400 ; Language: Anglo-French ; Origin: pursuer , from Old French poursuir , from Latin prosequi ; ⇨ ↑ prosecute ]
1 . to continue doing an activity or trying to achieve something over a long period of time ⇨ pursuit :
She plans to pursue a career in politics.
Students should pursue their own interests, as well as do their school work.
pursue a goal/aim/objective etc
companies that pursue the traditional goal of profits
a campaign promise to pursue policies that will help the poor
2 . pursue the matter/argument/question etc to continue trying to find out about or persuade someone about a particular subject:
Janet did not dare pursue the matter further.
The defence pursued the question of Dr Carrington’s state of mind.
3 . to chase or follow someone or something, in order to catch them, attack them etc ⇨ pursuit :
Briggs ran across the field with one officer pursuing him.
4 . to keep trying to persuade someone to have a relationship with you:
I was pleased, but somewhat embarrassed, when she pursued me.
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COLLOCATIONS
■ nouns
▪ pursue a career
You have to be dedicated to pursue a career in medicine.
▪ pursue an interest
Always encourage children to pursue their interests.
▪ pursue a goal/aim/objective
She was known to be ruthless in pursuing her goals.
▪ pursue your ambitions
David left the company to pursue his political ambitions.
▪ pursue a policy/strategy
The organization is pursuing a policy of cost cutting.
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THESAURUS
▪ follow to walk, drive etc behind or after someone, for example in order to see where they are going:
The man had followed her home to find out where she lived.
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Follow that car!
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He hired a detective to follow her.
▪ chase to quickly run or drive after someone or something in order to catch them when they are trying to escape:
Police chased the car along the motorway at speeds of up to 90 mph.
▪ run after somebody/go after somebody to quickly follow someone or something in order to stop them or talk to them:
I ran after him to say sorry, but he’d already got on the bus.
▪ stalk /stɔːk $ stɒːk/ to secretly follow an animal in order to kill it, or to secretly follow a person in order to attack them:
a tiger stalking its prey
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He had a long history of stalking women in his neighbourhood.
▪ pursue /pəˈsjuː $ pərˈsuː/ written to chase someone in a very determined way:
The ship was being pursued by enemy submarines.
▪ give chase written to chase someone or something who is trying to escape from you:
One of the officers gave chase and arrested the man.
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The calf ran away and the lion gave chase.
▪ tail to secretly follow someone in order to watch what they do and where they go:
Apparently, the police had been tailing the terrorists for months.
▪ track to follow and find a person or animal by looking at the marks they leave on the ground:
The bushmen were tracking antelope in the Kalahari desert.