overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

investigate.

To inquire into or study in order to ascertain facts or information.

11 characters4 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ɪnˈvɛs.tə.ɡeɪt/[ɪnˈvɛs.tɪ.ɡeɪ̯t]General-American[ɪnˈvɛs.tə.ɡeɪ̯ʔ]General-American
  1. To inquire into or study in order to ascertain facts or information.

    transitive
    to investigate the causes of natural phenomena
    He was asked to investigate a robbery.
  2. To examine, look into, or scrutinize in order to discover something hidden or secret.

    transitive
    to investigate an unsolved murder
  3. To conduct an inquiry or examination.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

Recorded since circa 1510, a back-formation from investigation on the basis of -ate (verb-forming suffix), from Latin investīgātiō (“a searching into”), from investīgātus, the perfect passive participle of investīgō, equivalent to in- + vestigate. Displaced native Old English undersēċan (literally “to search under or between”).

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

investigate has 11 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

investigate studioinvestigate workshello, investigate

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.