Basic Details
Word: Pursuit
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: The act of chasing someone or something; also, the effort to get or achieve something, or an activity you spend time on.
Synonyms: chase, hunt, quest, hobby
Word origin: From Anglo-Norman French purseute, from pursuer, to follow.
How to Spell Pursuit
Syllables: pur - suit
Tricky part: Pursuit ends with suit, spelt like a suit of clothes, and begins with pur. Persuit and pursute are frequent errors.
Watch out for: persuit, pursute, pursiut
Memory tip: Picture a man in a suit running in pursuit of a bus: pur + suit.
Idioms and Phrases
- in pursuit of: trying to find, catch or achieve something Example: "Thousands of students move to the city in pursuit of a good education."
Usage Examples
Example 1: The police car raced down the highway in pursuit of the stolen truck.
Example 2: Bird-watching is Ishaan's favourite weekend pursuit.
Example 3: The pursuit of knowledge never really ends.
Fun Fact
Pursuit is also a track cycling event: riders start on opposite sides of the track and race to catch each other or post the faster time.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
After school every Thursday, Kabir spends two hours at the club, where painting has become his most enjoyable persuit since he moved to Pune.
a) persuit
b) Thursday
c) painting
d) enjoyable
Show answer
a) persuit. It begins with pur, as in purple, and ends with the word suit.
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word pursuit as used in the sentence:
The hungry lion set off in pursuit of a zebra that had strayed from the herd.
a) rest
b) shelter
c) chase
d) escape
Show answer
c) chase. Going in pursuit of something means chasing it, and escape is what the zebra hopes for instead.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters in the sentence to form a meaningful word:
Her trisupu of a cleaner river led to a campaign that the whole town joined.
a) pursuit
b) purist
c) suit
d) pursuer
Show answer
a) pursuit. Purist has one u and suit is only four letters; pursuer has an e, which is not in the jumble.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A leisure pursuit is ____.
a) a type of formal dress
b) something you enjoy doing in free time
c) a rule for a game
d) a race against a police car
Show answer
b) something you enjoy doing in free time
2. Pursuit is the noun connected with the verb ____.
a) permit
b) pursue
c) perform
d) persuade
Show answer
b) pursue
