trail behind

English

Verb

trail behind (third-person singular simple present trails behind, present participle trailing behind, simple past and past participle trailed behind)

1. (transitive) To increase or to succeed at a rate lower than (something else).

   Tech stocks trailed behind the overall market today.

   • 2025 February 25, Kristin Zeier, Gianna-Ciara Grün, “German election results explained in graphics”, in Deutsche Welle‎^[1]:

     In many constituencies, over 30% of the second vote went to the AfD. The CDU and SPD trailed far behind.

2. (transitive) To follow (someone) slowly, usually surreptitiously.