Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To observe or inquire into in detail; examine systematically.
- intransitive verb To make a detailed inquiry or systematic examination.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To search into or search out; inquire into; search or examine into the particulars of; examine in detail: as, to
investigate the forces of nature; to investigate the causes of natural phenomena; to investigate the conduct of an agent. - Synonyms To scrutinize, overhaul, sift, probe into, explore, study.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb To pursue a course of investigation and study; to make investigation.
- transitive verb To follow up step by step by patient inquiry or observation; to trace or track mentally; to search into; to inquire and examine into with care and accuracy; to find out by careful inquisition.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive To
inquire into orstudy in order to ascertainfacts orinformation . - verb transitive To
examine , look into, orscrutinize in order todiscover somethinghidden orsecret . - verb intransitive To conduct an
inquiry orexamination .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb investigate scientifically
- verb conduct an inquiry or investigation of
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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His object was, to investigate the causes of this Grecian superiority; or, if _investigate_ is too pompous a word for so slight a discussion, more properly, he inquired for the cause as something that must naturally lie upon the surface.
The Uncollected Writings of Thomas de Quincey—Vol. 1 With a Preface and Annotations by James Hogg Thomas De Quincey 1822
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Yes the Kean Commission did "investigate" 9/11, and the word investigate is used in the loosest definition of the word.
If you are a conspiracy theorist.... Rachel 2006
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Note that for some reason, despite having British forces accused of beating to death a captive foreign civilian — a war crime by any definition — the British, and world opinion, are quite content to let Britain investigate this on its own — no calls for a UN, NATO or ICC investigation.
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The list of things that a capital defense attorney must, in all situations and no matter what he thinks will actually be useful, investigate is getting longer and longer.
The Volokh Conspiracy » Summary Reversal Watch in Jefferson v. Upton 2010
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Note that for some reason, despite having British forces accused of beating to death a captive foreign civilian — a war crime by any definition — the British, and world opinion, are quite content to let Britain investigate this on its own — no calls for a UN, NATO or ICC investigation.
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(They know their references — one of the addresses they investigate is on Plissken Circle.)
The Middleman: The Complete Series » DVDs Worth Watching 2009
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Possibly a better avenue to investigate is the effectiveness of drugs.
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 The next morning, she flies away to once again investigate her origins.
Astro City: Beautie #1 | Major Spoilers - Comic Book Reviews and News 2009
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Something I am starting to investigate is the historical Wobblie movement.
:brightly: Hi! Are you a Democrat in a Republican seat? | RedState 2010
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Also, the fact that "we could investigate" is irrelevant because right now you don't know what the outcome of the investigation would be.
goodenoughcui commented on the word investigate
inspect
November 23, 2020