TRAILS Synonyms: 88 Similar and Opposite Words

trails 1 of 2

noun

plural of trail

as in paths

a rough course or way formed by or as if by repeated footsteps took a trail through the woods to get to the main road

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as in tracks

a mark or series of marks left on a surface by something that has passed along it the slugs left a slimy trail on the sidewalk

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trails

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of trail

as in chases

to go after or on the track of we trailed our friend into the woods, inadvertently spoiling his plans for a solitary hike

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of trails

Noun

Reaching Gary Grabowske’s land requires grinding along rocky mountain trails and through gullies carved by flash floods. — Rebecca Santana, Los Angeles Times, 9 Oct. 2026 Tickets start at $38 for admission to all three scare trails, with add-ons and upgrades available. — Patrick Connolly, The Orlando Sentinel, 8 Oct. 2026 High tides will result in flooding along coastal trails, cut off access to some low-lying beaches and coastal areas, and bring water and waves farther up the beach than typical. — Ca Weather Bot, Sacbee.com, 8 Oct. 2026 The county’s greenway trails run for more than 80 miles and include popular routes such as Little Sugar Creek Greenway. — Mary Ramsey, Charlotte Observer, 8 Oct. 2026 Meanwhile, popular trails like Laguna de los Tres in Los Glaciares National Park can feel like a stampede at the height of summer. — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 7 Oct. 2026 The site in rural Cochise County, Arizona, already has a visitor center, campground and hiking trails. — ABC News, 7 Oct. 2026 Meteors can appear anywhere in the sky, and those seen farther from the radiant can leave longer trails. — Jamie Carter, Space.com, 2 Oct. 2026 The process to assemble one of the country’s largest rails-to-trails corridors took about two decades, spanning four mayoral administrations. — Zachary Hansen, AJC.com, 1 Oct. 2026

Verb

In China, India, Korea and Southeast Asia, sponsorship spending as a share of GDP trails the worldwide benchmark. — Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 9 Oct. 2026 The Argentine star, who came one match away from winning his second World Cup this summer, trails Ronaldo’s on-field earnings with just $75 million. — Justin Birnbaum, Sportico.com, 6 Oct. 2026 Despite a significantly lower explosive pass rate through three weeks compared to last year, Dallas trails only San Francisco in passing efficiency and sacks allowed. — J.j. Bailey, New York Times, 1 Oct. 2026 Caminero, the linchpin of the AL-leading Rays’ lineup, trails Schlittler in bWAR by more than a full win. — Ryan Canfield Outkick, FOXNews.com, 24 Sep. 2026 Houston, which has lost seven of its last nine games, trails the Rangers by a game in the AL West, but the Astros own the tiebreaker. — ABC News, 20 Sep. 2026 The percentage of students who met grade level increased across nearly all 3-8 grades in both reading and math, though the district still trails statewide averages. — Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 18 Sep. 2026 Now in his 14th season in the league, Kelce trails former Chiefs great Tony Gonzalez by 2,054 yards for the record. — Anna Lazarus Caplan, PEOPLE, 15 Sep. 2026 In addition to the brand’s fall/winter collection displayed on a long rail that trails the left side of the store, the New York brick-and-mortar (its first retail space, mind you) stocks select store-only exclusives, titled Atelier. — Madeline Fass, Vogue, 14 Sep. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for trails

Noun

His view on cross-border storytelling was shared across the panel as multilingual and multicultural filmmaking opens more paths to audiences.

— Lin Ying-Hsuan, Variety, 10 Oct. 2026
Amenities and experiences Not an amenity forward hotel per se, no gym, spa or restaurant, but the hotel does offer bikes to explore Stanley Park nearby or the paths that go by the waterfront.

— Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 9 Oct. 2026

Definition of paths

Noun

Will movie nights and electric go-kart tracks suffice to keep CWG’s buildings full if, as some predict, AI renders large numbers of office jobs redundant?

— Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, semafor.com, 9 Oct. 2026
In September, high tides and powerful wave activity from Hurricane Marie buffeted the San Clemente coastline, temporarily halting Pacific Surfliner and Metrolink service after more erosion and slope damage were spotted near the train tracks.

— Summer Lin, Los Angeles Times, 8 Oct. 2026

Definition of tracks

Noun

But this one swept through Bright Angel Canyon, the site of one of the few footpaths that lead up the Gran Canyon’s North Rim.

— Stephanie Pappas, Scientific American, 1 Sep. 2026
According to the National Park Service, the footpaths through the forested ridgetops of Pennsylvania are among the most popular.

— Idra Novey, Condé Nast Traveler, 2 July 2026

Definition of footpaths

Noun

The words cut sharply into the jumble of to-do lists, fantasies, snippets of possible writing, worry, and leftover traces of postpartum depression that constituted my mind in the early months of 1993.

— Via Scribner, Literary Hub, 9 Oct. 2026
It is considered highly likely that gold jewelry purchased in Great Britain in the mid- to late 1980s contained traces of the ingots stolen from the Brink’s-Mat warehouse.

— Frannie Comstock, Encyclopedia Britannica, 9 Oct. 2026

Definition of traces

Noun

Beach erosion and flooding of beach parking lots and pathways are likely.

— Noah Haggerty, Los Angeles Times, 12 Oct. 2026
Making pathways to the jobs of the future easier to navigate is in the interest of companies and workers alike, and will pay off for households, communities and the economy at large.

— Eric Kutcher, Fortune, 11 Oct. 2026

Definition of pathways

Noun

But a Yum Brands-esque approach where — like KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell — the chains operate separately but combine their real-estate footprints and back-office operations makes sense on paper.

— Rohan Goswami, semafor.com, 6 Oct. 2026
For brands with smaller footprints, late or missing payments can be far more crippling.

— Rachel Felder, Robb Report, 4 Oct. 2026

Definition of footprints

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trailing

trails

train

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Style

“Trails.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/trails. Accessed 14 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of trails

noun

verb

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