Phrasal verb
chase down
Definition
phrasal verb. to follow or hunt for someone or something until you finally catch them or find what you need.
phrasal verb. to pursue a person or object persistently until capture or location is achieved; often used metaphorically for tracking down information or documents.
Examples
“I need to chase down my boss to sign this form.”
“The police managed to chase down the suspect after a brief pursuit through the park.”
“Journalists spent months trying to chase down the original source of the leaked documents to verify their authenticity.”
Examples
simple
“I need to chase down my boss to sign this form.”
contextual
“The police managed to chase down the suspect after a brief pursuit through the park.”
complex
“Journalists spent months trying to chase down the original source of the leaked documents to verify their authenticity.”
Usage
commonly used with physical targets like people or abstract targets like information and signatures.
Teaching tip
highlight the nuance of persistence; unlike 'chase', 'chase down' implies a successful conclusion where the object is finally reached or obtained.
Pitfall
I chased down to him.
I chased him down.
this phrasal verb is transitive and does not take the preposition 'to' before the object.
Phrasal verb
Particles
down
Separability
optional
Pattern
chase + [object] + down
Synonyms
Antonyms
Grammar
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/chase-down