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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

probe.

Any of various medical instruments used to explore wounds, organs, etc.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/pɹəʊb/UK/pɹoʊb/General-American
  1. Any of various medical instruments used to explore wounds, organs, etc.

  2. Any of various medical instruments used to explore wounds, organs, etc. An anal probe, a fictional instrument commonly used by aliens on abducted humans.

  3. Something which penetrates something else, as though to explore; something which obtains information.

    figuratively
  4. An act of probing; a prod, a poke.

  5. An investigation or inquiry.

    figuratively
    They launched a probe into the cause of the accident.
  6. A tube attached to an aircraft which can be fitted into the drogue from a tanker aircraft to allow for aerial refuelling.

  7. A small device, especially an electrode, used to explore, investigate or measure something by penetrating or being placed in it.

    Insert the probe into the soil and read the temperature.
  8. A small, usually uncrewed, spacecraft used to acquire information or measurements about its surroundings.

  9. A move with multiple possible answers, seeking to make the opponent choose and commit to a strategy.

  10. Any group of atoms or molecules radioactively labeled in order to study a given molecule or other structure

Where this word comes from

For verb: borrowed from Latin probare (“to test, examine, prove”), from probus (“good”). Doublet of prove. For noun: borrowed from Late Latin proba (“a proof”), from probare (“to test, examine, prove”); Doublet of proof. Compare Spanish tienta (“a surgeon's probe”), from tentar (“try, test”); see tempt.

verb/pɹəʊb/UK/pɹoʊb/General-American
  1. To explore, investigate, question, test, or prove.

    ambitransitive
    If you probe further, you may discover different reasons.
  2. To insert a probe into.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

For verb: borrowed from Latin probare (“to test, examine, prove”), from probus (“good”). Doublet of prove. For noun: borrowed from Late Latin proba (“a proof”), from probare (“to test, examine, prove”); Doublet of proof. Compare Spanish tienta (“a surgeon's probe”), from tentar (“try, test”); see tempt.

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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.