Adjacent Words

Investigate definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

INVEST'IGATE, v.t. [L. investigo; in and vestigo, to follow a track, to search; vestigium, a track or footstep.]
To search into; to inquire and examine into with care and accuracy; to find out by careful disquisition; as, to investigate the powers and forces of nature; to investigate the causes of natural phenomena; to investigate the principles of moral duty; to investigate the conduct of an agent or the motives of a prince.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: investigate scientifically; "Let's investigate the syntax of Chinese" [syn: investigate, look into]
2: conduct an inquiry or investigation of; "The district attorney's office investigated reports of possible irregularities"; "inquire into the disappearance of the rich old lady" [syn: investigate, inquire, enquire]

Merriam Webster's

verb (-gated; -gating) Etymology: Latin investigatus, past participle of investigare to track, investigate, from in- + vestigium footprint, track Date: circa 1510 transitive verb to observe or study by close examination and systematic inquiry intransitive verb to make a systematic examination; especially to conduct an official inquiry <investigate a crime> • investigation noun • investigative adjective • investigator noun • investigatory adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. 1 tr. a inquire into; examine; study carefully. b make an official inquiry into. 2 intr. make a systematic inquiry or search. Derivatives: investigator n. investigatory adj. Etymology: L investigare investigat- (as IN-(2), vestigare track)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Investigate In*ves"ti*gate, v. i. To pursue a course of investigation and study; to make investigation.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Investigate In*ves"ti*gate, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Investigated; p. pr. & vb. n. Investigating.] [L. investigatus, p. p. of investigare to investigate; pref. in- in + vestigare to track, trace. See Vestige.] 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; as, to investigate the causes of natural phenomena.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(investigates, investigating, investigated) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. If someone, especially an official, investigates an event, situation, or claim, they try to find out what happened or what is the truth. Gas officials are investigating the cause of an explosion which badly damaged a house in Hampshire... Police are still investigating how the accident happened. VERB: V n, V wh, also V • investigation (investigations) He ordered an investigation into the affair... N-VAR: oft N into n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. Examine, scrutinize, canvass, study, sift, consider, overhaul, explore, probe, dissect, look into, search out, search into, inquire into, follow up.

Moby Thesaurus

air, analyze, canvass, comment upon, consider, controvert, deal with, debate, deliberate, deliberate upon, delve into, dig into, discourse about, discuss, examine, exchange views, explore, fathom, go, go into, handle, indagate, inquire into, knock around, look into, pass under review, peer into, plumb, poke into, probe, pry, pry into, rap, reason, reason about, reason the point, research, review, scrutinize, search into, sift, sound, study, take up, talk, talk about, talk of, talk over, thresh out, treat, ventilate, winnow