interrogate Hear it!

interrogate Definition

in·ter·ro·gate (in terə gāt′)

transitive verb -·gat′ed, -·gat′·ing

to ask questions of formally in examining to interrogate a witness

Etymology: < L interrogatus, pp. of interrogare, to ask < inter-, between + rogare, to ask: see rogation

intransitive verb

to ask questions

interrogate Synonyms

interrogate

v.

cross-examine, ask, grill*, give the third degree*; see examine 2, question 1. See syn. study at ask.

interrogate Usage Examples

Object

  • suspect: Join Suspect Theater and see if you can examine the evidence, interrogate the suspects, and catch the killer!
  • prisoner: They later admitted he could still be alive after interrogating prisoners in the area.
  • notion: More significantly, such an art interrogates several established notions: What are the limits of the human body?
  • database: In addition to an A-Z index the site includes a search facility to rapidly interrogate the database.
  • assumption: The chapter will interrogate these assumptions by describing the results of research on a number of case studies of actual work situations.
  • datum: You can interrogate the data in many ways to produce a variety of detailed reports.

Subject

  • police: Horatio, being the only person left standing at the end of the play, is being interrogated by the police.
  • Gestapo: Then his parents are arrested and his father dies while being interrogated by the Gestapo.

Modifying Another Word

  • critically: One of the precepts of STS is the need to interrogate critically its objects of study.
  • remotely: The surface is then interrogated remotely using a scanning laser-based system.
  • constantly: The news division must constantly interrogate itself about its preconceptions, levels of knowledge and openness to ideas and criticism.
  • then: We then interrogated John Buchanan who is a wright at the Mill.
  • also: Still in detention, security operatives traced my residence also interrogated my family.
  • only: A mobile telephone style MoODS would be carried in a pocket and only interrogated when the user thought they required assistance.

Used with why or when

  • what: We must interrogate what democracy means to the people.

Infinitive complement

  • identify: And at a local level, the datasets can be interrogated to identify sites for which particular attributes might apply.

Preposition: for

  • hour: We will not be beaten up or interrogated for hours or made to stand semi-naked in the rain for hours.

Preposition: by

  • police: Horatio, being the only person left standing at the end of the play, is being interrogated by the police.
  • Gestapo: Then his parents are arrested and his father dies while being interrogated by the Gestapo.
  • officer: The story opens and closes with Declan Osborne in jail, being interrogated by British officers.