contact tracing

noun

The process of identification of persons ("contacts") who may have come into contact with a person carrying an infectious disease.

Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

nouncontact tracing (countable and uncountable, plural contact tracings)

plural contact tracings · alternative contact-tracing

  1. countableuncountableepidemiologyThe process of identification of persons ("contacts") who may have come into contact with a person carrying an infectious disease.

    There's a strong case for replacing the present system of anonymous testing with mandatory reporting of new infections, and vigorous contact tracing of sexual and needle-sharing partners.

    1989 June 8, “The Case for Tracing AIDS Partners”, in The New York Times
    3 more examples

    Other health care professionals also may be trained as part of the effort to more than double to 1,500 the number of people conducting interviews and contact tracings on an ongoing basis.

    2020 April 22, Kie Relyea, “State asks National Guard for 500 people to help with coronavirus contact tracing work”, in The Bellingham Herald

    New research from RSSB [...] shows that in a typical UK train, you have around a 1-in-11,000 chance of catching COVID-19. This reflects German research by DB which concluded: "To our knowledge, not a single contact tracing has been identified in Germany and Austria as having been triggered by an infection on the train journey."

    2020 August 12, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Rail at the brink? Not yet...”, in Rail, page 3

    For millions of American lives touched by the coronavirus, it was too late to correct the failure to stand up protocols for masking and social distancing, testing and contact-tracing. But negative consequences of the culture war around the pandemic could still lie ahead, damaging the national vaccination effort.

    2020 November 20, Tom McCarthy, “Republican officials finally forced into action on Covid-19 as reality bites”, in The Guardian
verb

alternative contact-tracing

  1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of contact trace

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 接觸者追蹤 /接触者追踪
  • 接觸者追蹤 /接触者追踪 (jiēchùzhě zhuīzōng)the process of identification of persons who may have come into contact with an infected person
Dutch bron- en contactonderzoek
  • bron- en contactonderzoekthe process of identification of persons who may have come into contact with an infected person
Finnish kontaktinjäljitys
  • kontaktinjäljitysthe process of identification of persons who may have come into contact with an infected person
French contact tracing, recherche des contacts
  • contact tracingthe process of identification of persons who may have come into contact with an infected person
  • recherche des contactsthe process of identification of persons who may have come into contact with an infected person
German Kontaktverfolgung, Kontaktnachverfolgung
  • Kontaktverfolgungthe process of identification of persons who may have come into contact with an infected person
  • Kontaktnachverfolgungthe process of identification of persons who may have come into contact with an infected person
  • Kontaktpersonennachverfolgungthe process of identification of persons who may have come into contact with an infected person
Greek ανίχνευση επαφών
  • ανίχνευση επαφών (aníchnefsi epafón)the process of identification of persons who may have come into contact with an infected person
Hebrew חקירה אפידמיולוגית
  • חקירה אפידמיולוגית (khakirá epidemiyologít)the process of identification of persons who may have come into contact with an infected person
Hungarian kontaktkutatás, kontaktkövetés
  • kontaktkutatásthe process of identification of persons who may have come into contact with an infected person
  • kontaktkövetésthe process of identification of persons who may have come into contact with an infected person
Irish rianú teagmhálacha
  • rianú teagmhálachathe process of identification of persons who may have come into contact with an infected person
Italian tracciamento dei contatti, contact tracing
  • tracciamento dei contattithe process of identification of persons who may have come into contact with an infected person
  • contact tracingthe process of identification of persons who may have come into contact with an infected person
  • rintracciamento dei contattithe process of identification of persons who may have come into contact with an infected person
Korean 접촉자 추적
  • 접촉자 추적 (jeopchokja chujeok)the process of identification of persons who may have come into contact with an infected person
Māori whakatewhatewha pānga
  • whakatewhatewha pāngathe process of identification of persons who may have come into contact with an infected person
Norwegian Bokmål kontaktsporing, smittesporing
  • kontaktsporingthe process of identification of persons who may have come into contact with an infected person
  • smittesporingthe process of identification of persons who may have come into contact with an infected person
Polish ustalanie kontaktów zakaźnych
  • ustalanie kontaktów zakaźnychthe process of identification of persons who may have come into contact with an infected person
Portuguese rastreamento de contatos
  • rastreamento de contatosthe process of identification of persons who may have come into contact with an infected person
Spanish rastreo de contactos
  • rastreo de contactosthe process of identification of persons who may have come into contact with an infected person
Swedish smittspårning
  • smittspårningthe process of identification of persons who may have come into contact with an infected person
Vietnamese sự theo dõi liên lạc, sự truy tìm tiếp xúc
  • sự theo dõi liên lạcthe process of identification of persons who may have come into contact with an infected person
  • sự truy tìm tiếp xúcthe process of identification of persons who may have come into contact with an infected person
  • sự truy vết tiếp xúcthe process of identification of persons who may have come into contact with an infected person
  • sự theo dõi các tiếp xúcthe process of identification of persons who may have come into contact with an infected person
  • sự theo dõi các liên hệthe process of identification of persons who may have come into contact with an infected person
Welsh olrhain cyswllt
  • olrhain cyswlltthe process of identification of persons who may have come into contact with an infected person
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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