Dictionary Entry

investigate

verb

Find the meaning of the word investigate, plus dictionary definition, pronunciation, thesaurus-style synonyms, antonyms, and related vocabulary.

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Meaning

Dictionary meaning in a clear, student-friendly format.

To carefully look into something, like a problem or a mystery, to find out the facts and understand what happened.

Example Sentence

The police will investigate the cause of the accident to determine if anyone was at fault.

Usage Note

You would use "investigate" when someone needs to thoroughly examine a situation, a crime, a scientific phenomenon, or a problem to gather information, uncover facts, and understand the truth. For instance, a detective investigates a crime, a scientist investigates a hypothesis, or a journalist investigates a story.

Synonyms

examine explore research inquire scrutinize probe

Antonyms

ignore overlook neglect disregard abandon

Seen In These Lists

This word also appears in ReadingWillow year-level vocabulary lists. Use the matching list pages to study related words in sequence.

Year 3 Word List