inseguitare

Inseguitare is an Italian verb meaning to chase, pursue, or stalk a person, animal, or objective. It is used both in literal contexts, such as law enforcement or sports, and in figurative senses, for example when pursuing a goal or dream.

Etymology and usage notes: Inseguitare is derived from the verb inseguire, itself from Latin sequi, to follow, with the prefix in- adding emphasis. The standard modern Italian infinitive is inseguire; inseguitare appears occasionally in historical texts or dialectal usage and is generally considered nonstandard in contemporary Italian. The verb is transitive and typically takes a direct object (e.g., inseguire un sospetto, inseguire una pista) and can be used with metaphorical objects (inseguire un sogno).

Conjugation and forms: Inseguire (and by extension inseguitare in older or nonstandard use) belongs to the group of -ire verbs and forms its tenses in a manner similar to seguire, with a present participle inseguendo and a past participle inseguIto. The auxiliary in compound tenses is avere, as in ho insegu Ito, stai inseguendo, stanno inseguendo, etc. The exact present-tense forms vary by standard conjugation patterns, but the general pattern follows the same stem changes as other -ire verbs.

See also: Inseguimento (pursuit), inseguire (standard verb), pursuit in literature and film contexts.