interrogate
verbUK /ɪnˈtɛɹəɡeɪt/ · CA, US /ɪnˈtɛɹəɡeɪt/
Etymology Learned borrowing from Latin interrogātus, the perfect passive participle of Latin interrogō (“to inquire, interrogate”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix).
1
To question or quiz, especially in a thorough or aggressive manner.
- The police interrogated the suspect at some length before they let him go.
2
Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences To query (something); to request information from (something).
- to interrogate a database
3
Literary To examine (something) critically.
- Griffin's approach allows her to reveal Billie Holiday's resilient strength of character and to interrogate the racism she endured, which was as tragic as her personal mistakes.2015, Rita Kiki Edozie, Curtis Stokes, Malcolm X's Michigan Worldview: An Exemplar for Contemporary Black Studies, Michigan State University Press:
- Within the contemporary US context, the construct of childhood innocence is a powerful social myth that structures children’s social relations and culture and informs their rights and status in society. In this article, I interrogate the construct of childhood innocence to examine how it operates as an exclusionary form of social practice.2019 February 1, J. C. Garden, “Interrogating innocence: “Childhood” as exclusionary social practice”, in Childhood, volume 26, number 1, page 54:
- Derived terms
- cross-interrogate, interrogatability, interrogatable, interrogatingly, reinterrogate, uninterrogated
- Related terms
- interrogable, interrogatee, interrogation, interrogative, interrogatively, interrogator, interrogatory