contact trace

verb

To identify everyone with whom a person carrying an infectious disease has come into contact since contracting the disease.

Meanings

verbcontact trace (third-person singular simple present contact traces, present participle contact tracing, simple past and past participle contact traced)

present singular third person contact traces · participle present contact tracing · participle past contact traced · past contact traced · alternative contact-trace

  1. epidemiologyTo identify everyone with whom a person carrying an infectious disease has come into contact since contracting the disease.

    “We’ve had over 15 million check-ins across the country since June, and have yet to have a COVID breakout or case that is contact-traced back to our club,” Sanft said.

    2021 January 13, Jen Sotolongo, “Washington’s gyms and fitness centers reopened this week, but COVID-19 closures have them struggling to stay alive”, in The Seattle Times
    1 more example

    Sarah is 49 and lives in Dublin in a household of five. “A household member had been contact traced via text,” she says. “I fell ill on the night of the December 28th. I had a night of fever; of being hot and cold, feeling very achey and fluey. I had been fine during the day, but during the night, the symptoms came on relatively quickly.”

    2021 January 17, Rosita Boland, “‘I got a burning smell in my nose’: Third-wave Covid-19 patients share their experiences”, in The Irish Times

Origin

Translations

Spanish rastrear contactos, rastrear los contactos
  • rastrear contactosto identify everyone with whom a person carrying an infectious disease has come into contact
  • rastrear los contactosto identify everyone with whom a person carrying an infectious disease has come into contact
Vietnamese theo dõi liên lạc, truy tìm tiếp xúc
  • theo dõi liên lạcto identify everyone with whom a person carrying an infectious disease has come into contact
  • truy tìm tiếp xúcto identify everyone with whom a person carrying an infectious disease has come into contact
  • truy vết tiếp xúcto identify everyone with whom a person carrying an infectious disease has come into contact
  • theo dõi các tiếp xúcto identify everyone with whom a person carrying an infectious disease has come into contact
  • theo dõi các liên hệto identify everyone with whom a person carrying an infectious disease has come into contact
Cite this entry
APA

contact trace. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/contact%20trace

MLA

“contact trace.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/contact%20trace. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “contact trace,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/contact%20trace.

Source: contact trace on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.