MEANING
1. To examine an idea, source, or assumption closely through critical questions.
2. To question a person formally and intensively, especially in an investigation.
Use it for
source criticism; examining categories; investigative questioningTurn an apparently settled premise into a precise analytical question.
Words that belong together
- interrogate assumptions
- interrogate a text
- interrogate a witness
On the page
The essay interrogates the assumption that growth benefits every social group.
We must interrogate the archive itself: whose testimony was preserved?
Investigators interrogated the accountant about the unexplained transfers.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- interrogate / interrogates
- Past tense
- interrogated
- Past participle
- interrogated
- Present participle
- interrogating
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- interrogate / interrogates
- Present continuous
- am/is/are interrogating
- Present perfect
- have/has interrogated
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been interrogating
- Past
- interrogated
- Past continuous
- was/were interrogating
- Past perfect
- had interrogated
- Past perfect continuous
- had been interrogating
- Future
- will interrogate / interrogates
- Future continuous
- will be interrogating
- Future perfect
- will have interrogated
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been interrogating
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
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Usage notes
Primary category: academic. The academic sense is figurative and can sound inflated if no actual questioning follows. Identify what is being questioned; the personal sense may imply pressure. Verb inflections [base, third-person singular, past, past participle, -ing]: interrogate, interrogates, interrogated, interrogated, interrogating. Derived family (not inflections): interrogation.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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