MEANING
1. To examine a question using different sources, methods, or perspectives and compare what they reveal.
2. To calculate a position or distance using geometric relations among known points.
Use it for
mixed-method research; corroboration; checking incomplete accountsShow how distinct evidence streams support or challenge each other.
Words that belong together
- triangulate evidence
- triangulate interview data
- triangulate findings with records
On the page
The historian triangulated diaries, tax records, and maps to reconstruct the neighborhood.
Interview findings were triangulated with observations of classroom practice.
Rather than trust one estimate, the team triangulated results from independent surveys.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- triangulate / triangulates
- Past tense
- triangulated
- Past participle
- triangulated
- Present participle
- triangulating
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- triangulate / triangulates
- Present continuous
- am/is/are triangulating
- Present perfect
- have/has triangulated
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been triangulating
- Past
- triangulated
- Past continuous
- was/were triangulating
- Past perfect
- had triangulated
- Past perfect continuous
- had been triangulating
- Future
- will triangulate / triangulates
- Future continuous
- will be triangulating
- Future perfect
- will have triangulated
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been triangulating
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. Research use is methodological, not a demand for exactly three sources. Agreement can strengthen an interpretation, but multiple biased sources do not guarantee truth. Verb inflections [base, third-person singular, past, past participle, -ing]: triangulate, triangulates, triangulated, triangulated, triangulating. Derived family (not inflections): triangulation.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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