Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To examine by questioning formally or officially. synonym: ask.
  • transitive verb Computers To transmit a signal for setting off an appropriate response.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A question; an interrogation.
  • To question; examine by asking questions: as, to interrogate a witness.
  • Synonyms Inquire, Question, etc. (see ask); catechize.
  • To ask questions.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To ask questions.
  • transitive verb To question formally; to question; to examine by asking questions.
  • noun obsolete An interrogation; a question.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To question or quiz, especially in a thorough or aggressive manner.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb transmit (a signal) for setting off an appropriate response, as in telecommunication
  • verb pose a series of questions to

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English enterrogate, from Latin interrogāre, interrogāt- : inter-, in the presence of; see inter– + rogāre, to ask; see reg- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin interrogatus, past participle of interrogare ("to ask, question"), from inter ("between") + rogare ("to ask"); see rogation.

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Examples

  • As it happens in this utter jumble of a plot, their conversation takes place nearby exactly the sort of man Jonah likes to interrogate, that is, a dead one.

    PopMatters 2010

  • 3. Pick a word or phrase from the definition and interrogate it.

    The Next Ten Minutes EdD Andrew Peterson 2010

  • 3. Pick a word or phrase from the definition and interrogate it.

    The Next Ten Minutes EdD Andrew Peterson 2010

  • 3. Pick a word or phrase from the definition and interrogate it.

    The Next Ten Minutes EdD Andrew Peterson 2010

  • 3. Pick a word or phrase from the definition and interrogate it.

    The Next Ten Minutes EdD Andrew Peterson 2010

  • Well, I'm no FBI expert but if you catch a guy possibly responsible for 100+ deaths by a biotoxic, I have a feeling more than one agent would "interrogate" you.

    Reader Forum: The Fringe Premiere | /Film 2008

  • Was the robotic surgeon programmed to heal me, or was it drugging me so they could "interrogate" me?

    Who Do You Say I Am 2010

  • This is generally stuff I've been too liberal artfully educated to not say anything about (Seizer's STIGMA class for the * headdesk*), or, in more ivory tower terms, "interrogate".

    What's Best for the Oppressed, #0: Intro! zhukora1 2008

  • Most of the efforts to "interrogate" the canon over the past two decades have not really questioned the need for heirarchy in organizing literary study.

    Canonical Writers 2008

  • Don't call in all our bad debt, we told them, and in return we'll label as terrorists these freedom-fighters who want to escape your insane corporate fascismand you can even come to Cuba and "interrogate" them.

    Freedom! 2009

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