pursue

Pursue is a verb with multiple related senses. The primary meaning is to follow someone or something with the intent to catch or overtake them, as in a hunter pursuing game or a detective pursuing clues. The sense can be extended to persistent effort toward a goal or objective, such as pursuing higher education, a career, or a personal ambition. A further sense is to seek legal remedy or action against someone, as in pursuing a claim or pursuing charges.

Pursue derives from Old French poursuivre and Latin prosequi, meaning to follow forward or to accompany. In modern usage, the verb is transitive, typically taking a direct object: one pursues something (a goal, a course of study) or someone (a suspect). In some contexts, “pursue” can be used in reference to ongoing actions, such as pursuing a long-term project or investigation.

Common collocations include: pursue a goal, pursue a course of study, pursue legal action, pursue a career, pursue an investigation. Related terms include pursuit (the act of pursuing) and related noun forms such as pursuer and pursued.

Examples: The police pursued the suspect through the city streets. She pursued a degree in biology. The company decided to pursue a lawsuit to protect its rights. The idiom in hot pursuit describes a rapid chase.

Notes: While similar to chase, pursue emphasizes persistence, planning, and longer-term intent beyond a single chase. The word is generally neutral in tone and suitable for encyclopedic or formal writing.