Meaning & use
interviewee
Last updated
UK/ˌɪntəvjuːˈiː/
US/ˌɪntərvjuːˈiː/
Meaning
nouncountable
The person who answers questions in an interview, for example when applying for a job or talking to a reporter.
Grammar: Countable: the interviewee answered calmly.
Patterns
- the interviewee for something
The interviewee arrived ten minutes early for the job interview.
The reporter thanked the interviewee for her honesty.
Each interviewee had thirty minutes to present ideas.
Word forms
| plural | interviewees |
|---|
Common combinations
- nervous interviewee
- The nervous interviewee kept checking his notes.
- prepare the interviewee
- The coach helped prepare the interviewee for tough questions.
- the interviewee replied
- The interviewee replied that she had five years of experience.
- interviewee and interviewer
- The interviewer and interviewee shook hands.
- select an interviewee
- The panel will select one interviewee for the final round.
Synonyms and how they differ
- candidate
- Candidate is used for job or election contexts, whereas interviewee can also be a guest on a program.
- respondent
- Respondent is used in surveys and research, where questions may come on paper or by phone.
- applicant
- Applicant means someone who has applied, even if they have not yet been interviewed.
- guest
- Guest is used for broadcast shows and sounds friendlier than interviewee.
Opposites
Word family
- interview noun
- a formal conversation with questions
- interview verb
- to ask someone questions in a formal way
- interviewer noun
- the person who asks the questions
- interviewing noun
- the act or skill of conducting interviews
Commonly confused: interviewee or interviewer?
interviewee vs interviewer
The interviewer asks the questions, and the interviewee gives the answers, so do not swap the two.
Practice
In a job interview, who is the interviewee?
Choose one answer.
The -ee ending marks the person receiving the action, so the interviewee is the applicant, not the questioner.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “interviewee”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.
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