Meaning & use
investigation
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Meanings
nouncountable
An official attempt to find out the facts about something, especially a crime or accident.
Grammar: Countable: you can say 'an investigation' or 'several investigations'. Follow it with 'into' or 'of' plus the subject.
Patterns
- an investigation into something
- launch/conduct an investigation
- be under investigation
- a police investigation
The police opened an investigation into the missing money.
A full investigation of the crash will take several months.
She is under investigation for accepting payments she should not have taken.
nouncountable or uncountable
Careful study or research done to learn the truth about a subject or problem.
Grammar: Often countable with 'an' or 'a', but can be uncountable when you mean the activity in general.
Patterns
- scientific investigation
- carry out an investigation
- investigation of a problem
Their investigation of the disease led to a new treatment.
Scientific investigation requires patience and careful records.
The committee's investigation showed that the warning signs had been ignored.
Word forms
| plural | investigations |
|---|
Common combinations
- launch an investigation
- The government launched an investigation into the factory fire.
- a criminal investigation
- A criminal investigation was started after the documents disappeared.
- under investigation
- The company is under investigation for tax fraud.
- a thorough investigation
- The newspaper promised a thorough investigation of the claims.
- an investigation reveals something
- The investigation revealed that safety checks had been skipped.
Synonyms and how they differ
- inquiry
- More formal and often used for official or public questions; 'investigation' is the usual word for police or scientific work.
- probe
- More informal and often used in journalism; it suggests a searching, sometimes aggressive look into something.
- inquest
- Only for an official legal hearing into a death; much narrower than 'investigation'.
Word family
- investigate verb
- To try to find out the facts about something.
- investigator noun
- A person whose job is to examine facts and solve cases.
- investigative adjective
- Describing work or reporting that involves deep examination of facts.
Commonly confused: investigation or investiture?
investigation vs investiture
Sounds similar but means a formal ceremony giving someone a rank or title, not a search for facts.
Practice
The police have started an investigation ___ the robbery.
Choose one answer.
'Investigation into' is the standard pattern for the subject being examined. 'For' would suggest the purpose of the investigation, and 'at' does not fit this noun.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “investigation”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.