Investigate
[ɪn'vestɪgeɪt] or [ɪn'vɛstɪɡet]
Definition
(verb.) 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'.
(verb.) investigate scientifically; 'Let's investigate the syntax of Chinese'.
Checker: Marie--From WordNet
Definition
(v. t.) 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.
(v. i.) To pursue a course of investigation and study; to make investigation.
Edited by Clare
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. Examine, scrutinize, canvass, study, sift, consider, overhaul, explore, probe, dissect, look into, search out, search into, inquire into, follow up.
Checked by Andrew
Synonyms and Antonyms
[See EXAMINE]
Checked by Gregory
Definition
v.t. to search into: to inquire into with care and accuracy.—adj. Invest′igable able to be investigated.—n. Investigā′tion act of examining into: research: study.—adjs. Invest′igātive Invest′igātory promoting or given to investigation.—n. Invest′igātor one who investigates.
Edited by Ervin
Examples
- Shortly after he had moved to London he had been asked to investigate astringent plants in connection with tanning. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- It was well he did so; for Mr. Legree, having refitted Tom's handcuffs, proceeded deliberately to investigate the contents of his pockets. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- After much discussion they appointed a committee to call on Sir Humphrey Davy and ask him to investigate the possibilities for them. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- The science which pretends to investigate and explain those connecting principles, is what is properly called Moral Philosophy. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- About noon we espied far to our right what was evidently an incubator, and Lorquas Ptomel directed Tars Tarkas to investigate it. Edgar Rice Burroughs. A Princess of Mars.
- He went down to Drexel, Morgan & Company's office to investigate, and, after looking around, asked when the office was cleaned out. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- I decided to investigate, but first I lifted my head to fill my lungs with the pure, invigorating night air of the mountains. Edgar Rice Burroughs. A Princess of Mars.
- One of Plato's associates, working under his direct ion, investigated the curves produced by cutting cones of different kinds in a certain plane. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- He had investigated all the crushing-machines on the market, and tried all he could get. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- This case of yours, Mr. Phelps, is certainly one of the darkest which I have ever investigated. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
- They are facts to be investigated. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- This Goebel claim was then investigated by the leading counsel for the defence, Mr. Curtis. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- For months he investigated and experimented, and at length, in 1815, he constructed what he called the safety-lamp. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- Plain women he regarded as he did the other severe facts of life, to be faced with philosophy and investigated by science. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- It is the supposed murder of Colonel Barclay, of the Royal Munsters, at Aldershot, which I am investigating. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
- Mr. Pickwick, who had been deeply investigating the interior of the pigeon-pie, readily assented. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- It is the murder that we are really investigating, and I tell you that I am gathering all the threads into my hands. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- We are investigating this unhappy business, Bannister, said his master. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- Men who heard of a machine that would cut one hundred and seventy-five acres of wheat in less than eight days--as happened in one case--naturally decided that it was worth investigating. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- At this time he was investigating everything with a microscope, and one day in the early part of 1880 he noticed upon a table in the laboratory an ordinary palm-leaf fan. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- With an absent air, she was investigating that button on her husband's coat, when Pa came in to spend the evening. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- If one investigates the source of any sound, he will always find that it is due to motion of some kind. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
Editor: Theresa