Meaning & use
scrutinised
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“scrutinised” is a form of “scrutinize”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meaning
verbtransitive
Past form of scrutinise: examined something very closely and carefully, often to find faults or details.
Grammar: Takes an object: the auditors scrutinised the accounts.
Patterns
- scrutinise something
- scrutinise someone for something
The inspector scrutinised the contract line by line.
Every detail of the plan was scrutinised by the committee.
She scrutinised his face for any sign of worry.
Word forms
| base form | scrutinise |
|---|---|
| third person singular | scrutinises |
| -ing form | scrutinising |
Common combinations
- closely scrutinised
- The results were closely scrutinised by experts.
- carefully scrutinised
- The document was carefully scrutinised before signing.
- scrutinised the evidence
- The jury scrutinised the evidence for hours.
- scrutinised by the media
- The politician's choices were scrutinised by the media.
- scrutinised for errors
- The report was scrutinised for errors.
Synonyms and how they differ
- examined
- Examined is more general and need not be critical, while scrutinised suggests very close checking.
- inspected
- Inspected often means an official check of a physical thing, while scrutinised can apply to ideas and documents.
- studied
- Studied suggests learning from something over time rather than checking it for flaws.
- analysed
- Analysed means breaking something into parts to understand it, which is more systematic than scrutinised.
Opposites
Word family
- scrutiny noun
- close and careful examination
- scrutinize verb
- American spelling of scrutinise
- scrutineer noun
- an official who checks votes in an election
- inscrutable adjective
- impossible to understand or read
Commonly confused: scrutinised or scrutiny?
scrutinised vs scrutiny
Scrutiny is the noun for the examination; scrutinised is the verb form.
Practice
Before the merger was approved, the financial records were carefully ____ by regulators.
Choose one answer.
Scrutinised means examined very carefully, which suits regulators checking records. Delayed does not describe checking.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “scrutinised”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.