Meaning & use
interrogate
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Meanings
verbtransitive
To question someone for a long time and closely, often forcefully, in order to get information.
Grammar: Takes an object: detectives interrogated the suspect.
Patterns
- interrogate someone about something
- interrogate someone for hours
Police interrogated the suspect for six hours.
Reporters interrogated the minister about the missing funds.
The border officer interrogated them about their trip.
verbtransitivefigurativeformal
To examine something closely and critically in order to test or understand it.
Grammar: With ideas or sources as objects: interrogate the evidence.
Patterns
- interrogate the data
- interrogate an idea
Good historians interrogate every source they use.
The course teaches students to interrogate the claims made in advertising.
We should interrogate the assumptions behind the plan.
verbtransitivecomputingtechnical
To send a signal or query to a device or database to get information from it.
Grammar: Technical use, with machines or databases as objects.
Patterns
- interrogate a database
- interrogate a device
The engineer interrogated the sensor to read its settings.
You can interrogate the database with a short query.
The radar interrogates each aircraft and waits for a reply.
Word forms
| third person singular | interrogates |
|---|---|
| past tense | interrogated |
| past participle | interrogated |
| -ing form | interrogating |
Common combinations
- interrogate a suspect
- Officers interrogated the suspect overnight.
- interrogate a witness
- The lawyer interrogated the witness about the timeline.
- interrogate the data
- Analysts interrogate the data before drawing conclusions.
- interrogate assumptions
- Teachers encouraged us to interrogate our assumptions.
- interrogate relentlessly
- The panel interrogated him relentlessly.
Synonyms and how they differ
- question
- Question is the neutral everyday verb, while interrogate adds the idea of pressure or length.
- grill
- Grill is informal and suggests harsh, persistent questioning, and it appears more in casual speech.
- cross-examine
- Cross-examine is limited to courts, where a lawyer questions the other side's witness.
- interview
- Interview is cooperative and polite, while interrogate suggests someone resisting or being pressed.
Opposites
Word family
- interrogation noun
- a period of close, forceful questioning
- interrogator noun
- a person who asks the questions
- interrogative adjective
- having the form or force of a question
- interrogatory noun
- a formal written question in a legal case
Commonly confused: interrogate or interview? interrogate or interrupt?
interrogate vs interview
An interview is a planned, usually friendly conversation, for example for a job. Interrogate suggests pressure to reveal something.
interrogate vs interrupt
Interrupt means to break into someone's speech or action, and it does not mean to question.
Practice
The detective spent the night trying to ___ the suspect into revealing where he had been.
Choose one answer.
Interrogate means questioning someone closely to extract information. Interview is too gentle, and interrupt and interact have different meanings.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “interrogate”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.