tract

/trækt/ (bre, ipa) · /trækt/ (ame, ipa) · /ˈtrakt/ (ame, mw)

tract — noun

  • tractsingular
  • tractsplural

1. a short printed piece of writing, usually about religion or politics, that is de

1.名詞B2
釋義

a short printed piece of writing, usually about religion or politics, that is designed to persuade readers to adopt a particular view.

例句

Outside the train station, a woman handed Zuri a tract about protecting the environment.

tract + about + topic

The librarian discovered a 19th-century religious tract hidden inside an old Bible.

religious tract — common modifier

同義詞
  • pamphlet

    more general term for any unbound printed booklet, not necessarily persuasive

  • leaflet

    a single sheet of paper, often folded; shorter than a tract

  • brochure

    usually describes or advertises a product or service rather than persuading about beliefs

文法句型

tract + about/on + topic

用法筆記

Frequently followed by 'on' or 'about' to specify the subject. Usually printed as a thin pamphlet or leaflet, not a book.

常見錯誤

❌I read a long tract about history
✅I read a tract about local politics.
💡'tract' implies a short persuasive piece, not a long scholarly work.

2. a wide stretch of land that is not precisely measured or bounded, often used to

2.名詞B2
釋義

a wide stretch of land that is not precisely measured or bounded, often used to describe natural landscapes.

例句

Their car crossed a dusty tract of desert with no buildings in sight.

tract of desert — describing natural landscape

Great tracts of forest in the north remain untouched by roads or housing developments.

tracts of forest — plural for vast expanses

同義詞
  • expanse

    emphasises the flat, open quality of the area more than 'tract' does

  • stretch

    more informal and often used for a continuous length of road, river, or coast

  • territory

    suggests an area with political or ownership boundaries

反義詞

文法句型

tract + of + (adjective) + land/forest/desert

用法筆記

Often used in the plural ('tracts of…') when describing very large or multiple areas. The focus is on vastness rather than precise boundaries.

常見錯誤

❌We bought a tract of land in the city centre.
✅We bought a tract of farmland in the countryside.
💡'tract' emphasises size and wildness; for a small city lot use 'plot' or 'parcel'.

3. a precisely measured piece of land that has been set aside or officially approve

3.名詞B2
釋義

a precisely measured piece of land that has been set aside or officially approved for a particular use — for example, putting up homes, growing crops, or drilling for oil.

例句

The city council approved a five-hectare tract for the construction of a new primary school.

tract + for + purpose — designated use

An energy company is exploring a tract of land in the south for natural gas.

同義詞
  • plot

    a measured piece of land, usually smaller and more precisely defined than a tract

  • parcel

    a piece of land that is part of a larger property; common in legal contexts

  • lot

    a specific area of land in a town or city, often for building

文法句型

tract + of + land + for + purpose

用法筆記

Distinguish from sense 2: this sense refers to a surveyed or officially designated area with a defined boundary, not an indefinite stretch. Common in real estate, urban planning, and resource extraction contexts.

常見錯誤

❌The farmer bought a tract of land to build one small shed.
✅The farmer bought a tract of land to expand his orchard.
💡'tract' implies a significant area; for a tiny plot, use 'plot' or 'lot'.

4. a connected series of tubes and organs in humans and animals that work together

4.名詞B2
釋義

a connected series of tubes and organs in humans and animals that work together to carry out a key process, such as digesting food or breathing.

例句

The doctor explained that food passes through the digestive tract from the mouth to the intestines.

the digestive tract — most common collocation

Smoking can seriously damage the entire respiratory tract, including the lungs.

the respiratory tract — compound noun pattern

同義詞
  • system

    broader term that includes the tract plus associated organs and glands (e.g. digestive system includes the tract plus the liver and pancreas)

  • passage

    a more general word for any channel or way through; less precise than 'tract'

  • canal

    a narrow tube or passage in the body, such as the ear canal; more specific than 'tract'

文法句型

the + adjective + tract

digestive / respiratory / urinary / gastrointestinal + tract

用法筆記

Almost always appears with an anatomical modifier: 'digestive tract', 'respiratory tract', 'urinary tract', 'gastrointestinal tract'. Rarely used alone without a modifier.

常見錯誤

❌The food goes through my tract.
✅The food goes through my digestive tract.
💡'tract' alone sounds unnatural; always specify which tract.

5. a collection of nerve fibres running together through the brain or spinal cord,

5.名詞C1
釋義

a collection of nerve fibres running together through the brain or spinal cord, all sharing the same origin, destination, and function of carrying particular signals within the nervous system.

例句

Damage to a nerve tract in the spinal cord can affect feeling in the legs.

nerve tract in the spinal cord — neuroanatomy context

Dr. Okafor traced signals along the optic tract from the eyes to the brain.

同義詞
  • pathway

    a broader, less formal term for a route taken by nerve signals; can refer to functional rather than anatomical connections

  • bundle

    a general descriptive term; less precise than 'tract' in anatomical writing

  • fasciculus

    the formal anatomical term for a small bundle of nerve fibres

文法句型

the + (adjective) + tract

nerve tract

optic tract

spinal tract

用法筆記

Highly specialized term used in neurology and medical education. The modifier (e.g. 'optic', 'corticospinal', 'spinothalamic') names the origin and destination. Learners at CEFR C1 and above may encounter this in academic reading.

常見錯誤

❌The nerve tract carries blood.
✅The nerve tract carries electrical signals.
💡nerve tracts carry neural impulses, not blood; blood travels through blood vessels.