Standard Lemma guide

investigation

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ɪnˌvɛs.tɪˈɡeɪ.ʃən/
  • US: /ɪnˌvɛs.tɪˈɡeɪ.ʃən/
  • US: /ɪnˌvɛs.təˈɡeɪ.ʃən/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -eɪʃən
  • CMU ARPABET: IH2 N V EH2 S T AH0 G EY1 SH AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The act of investigating; the process of inquiring into or following up; research, especially patient or thorough inquiry or examination

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • The investigation into the crime has led to various leads as well as plenty of dead ends.
  • Despite thorough investigation, the perpetrator of the attacks remains unknown.
  • carry out an investigation
  • the matter is awaiting investigation
  • The case is still under investigation.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

the work of inquiring into something thoroughly and systematically

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: investigating

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: work

Narrower terms: analysis, count, counting, numeration, enumeration, reckoning, tally, police work, police investigation, empiricism, examination, scrutiny, testing, inquiry, enquiry, research, search, tabulation, wiretap, tap

3

noun

Meaning 3

an inquiry into unfamiliar or questionable activities

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • there was a congressional probe into the scandal

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: probe

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: inquiry, enquiry, research

Narrower terms: fishing expedition

History

Etymology

From Middle English investigacioun, from Old French investigacion, from Latin investigatio. Morphologically investigate + -ion.

Across languages

Translations

135 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: ondersoek — the act of investigating
  • Albanian: hetim — the act of investigating
  • Arabic: تَحْقِيق (taḥqīq) — the act of investigating
  • Arabic: تَحْقِيق (taḥgīg) — the act of investigating
  • Armenian: հետաքննություն (hetakʻnnutʻyun) — the act of investigating
  • Asturian: investigación — the act of investigating
  • Azerbaijani: təhqiqat — the act of investigating
  • Azerbaijani: istintaq — the act of investigating
  • Azerbaijani: təhqiq — the act of investigating
  • Azerbaijani: araşdırma — the act of investigating
  • Belarusian: рассле́даванне (rassljédavannje) — the act of investigating
  • Belarusian: расьсьле́дваньне (rasʹsʹljédvanʹnje) — the act of investigating
  • Belarusian: дасле́даванне (dasljédavannje) — the act of investigating
  • Belarusian: дасьле́дваньне (dasʹljédvanʹnje) — the act of investigating
  • Bulgarian: разсле́дване (razslédvane) — the act of investigating
  • Burmese: အမေးအစမ်း (a.me:a.cam:) — the act of investigating
  • Burmese: စုံစမ်းစစ်ဆေး (cumcam:cachce:) — the act of investigating
  • Catalan: investigació — the act of investigating
  • Chinese Mandarin: 調查 /调查 (diàochá) — the act of investigating
  • Czech: vyšetřování — the act of investigating
  • Danish: efterforskning — the act of investigating
  • Danish: undersøgelse — the act of investigating
  • Dutch: onderzoek — the act of investigating
  • Dutch: nasporing — the act of investigating
  • Esperanto: enketo — the act of investigating
  • Estonian: uurimine — the act of investigating
  • Finnish: tutkimus — the act of investigating
  • Finnish: selvitys — the act of investigating
  • French: investigation — the act of investigating
  • French: enquête — the act of investigating
  • Galician: investigación — the act of investigating
  • Georgian: გამოძიება (gamoʒieba) — the act of investigating
  • German: Untersuchung — the act of investigating
  • Greek: έρευνα (érevna) — the act of investigating
  • Greek: διερεύνηση (dierévnisi) — the act of investigating
  • Hausa: bahàsī — the act of investigating
  • Hebrew: חֲקִירָה (khakirá) — the act of investigating
  • Hindi: जाँच (jā̃c) — the act of investigating
  • Hindi: तहक़ीक़ात (tahqīqāt) — the act of investigating
  • Hungarian: nyomozás — the act of investigating
  • Hungarian: vizsgálat — the act of investigating
  • Icelandic: rannsókn — the act of investigating
  • Icelandic: könnun — the act of investigating
  • Indonesian: investigasi — the act of investigating
  • Indonesian: penyelidikan — the act of investigating
  • Irish: fiosrúchán — the act of investigating
  • Italian: investigazione — the act of investigating
  • Italian: inchiesta — the act of investigating
  • Japanese: 調査 (chōsa) — the act of investigating
  • Kazakh: тергеу (tergeu) — the act of investigating
  • Kazakh: тексеру (tekseru) — the act of investigating
  • Khmer: ការស៊ើបអង្កេត (kaa səəp ʼɑɑʼɑngkeet) — the act of investigating
  • Khmer: អង្កេត (ʼɑɑʼɑngkeet) — the act of investigating
  • Khmer: វិចារណា (vicaarĕəʼnaa) — the act of investigating
  • Korean: 조사 (josa) — the act of investigating
  • Kyrgyz: текшерүү (tekşerüü) — the act of investigating
  • Lao: ການສອບສວນ (kān sǭp sūan) — the act of investigating
  • Lao: ການສືບສວນ (kān sư̄p sūan) — the act of investigating
  • Latin: quaestiō — the act of investigating
  • Latin: indagatio — the act of investigating
  • Latin: investigatio — the act of investigating
  • Latvian: izmeklēšana — the act of investigating
  • Lithuanian: tyrimas — the act of investigating
  • Lithuanian: tardymas — the act of investigating
  • Macedonian: истрага (istraga) — the act of investigating
  • Malay: penyiasatan — the act of investigating
  • Māori: rapunga — the act of investigating
  • Māori: mātaitanga — the act of investigating
  • Māori: tūhuratanga — the act of investigating
  • Māori: hurahuratanga — the act of investigating
  • Māori: whakatewhatewha — the act of investigating
  • Mongolian: судалгаа (sudalgaa) — the act of investigating
  • Mongolian: шалгалт (šalgalt) — the act of investigating
  • Mongolian: мөрдөн байцаалт (mördön bajcaalt) — the act of investigating
  • Norman: èrchèrchéthie — the act of investigating
  • Norwegian Bokmål: etterforskning — the act of investigating
  • Norwegian Bokmål: etterforsking — the act of investigating
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: etterforsking — the act of investigating
  • Odia: ପରୀକ୍ଷା (parīkshā) — the act of investigating
  • Old English: spyriġung — the act of investigating
  • Pashto: پلټنه (palaṭəna) — the act of investigating
  • Dari: تَحْقِیق (tahqīq) — the act of investigating
  • Dari: رَسِیدَگِی (rasīdagī) — the act of investigating
  • Iranian Persian: تَحْقیق (tahġiġ) — the act of investigating
  • Iranian Persian: رَسیدِگی (rasidegi) — the act of investigating
  • Iranian Persian: رِسیدِگی (residegi) — the act of investigating
  • Iranian Persian: پِژوهِش (pežuheš) — the act of investigating
  • Iranian Persian: پَژوهِش (pažuheš) — the act of investigating
  • Polish: śledztwo — the act of investigating
  • Polish: dochodzenie — the act of investigating
  • Portuguese: investigação — the act of investigating
  • Romanian: investigație — the act of investigating
  • Russian: сле́дствие (slédstvije) — the act of investigating
  • Russian: рассле́дование (rasslédovanije) — the act of investigating
  • Russian: иссле́дование (isslédovanije) — the act of investigating
  • Sanskrit: परीक्षा (parīkṣā) — the act of investigating
  • Serbo-Croatian: и̏страга — the act of investigating
  • Serbo-Croatian: ȉstraga — the act of investigating
  • Setho: phuputso — the act of investigating
  • Slovak: vyšetrovanie — the act of investigating
  • Slovene: preiskava — the act of investigating
  • Spanish: investigación — the act of investigating
  • Spanish: pesquisa — the act of investigating
  • Spanish: indagación — the act of investigating
  • Swedish: undersökning — the act of investigating
  • Tajik: таҳқиқ (tahqiq) — the act of investigating
  • Tajik: тафтиш (taftiš) — the act of investigating
  • Tajik: тергав (tergav) — the act of investigating
  • Tajik: таҳқиқот (tahqiqot) — the act of investigating
  • Telugu: విచారణ (vicāraṇa) — the act of investigating
  • Thai: การสอบสวน (gaan-sɔ̀ɔp-sǔuan) — the act of investigating
  • Thai: การสืบสวน (gaan-sʉ̀ʉp-sǔuan) — the act of investigating
  • Turkish: inceleme — the act of investigating
  • Turkish: soruşturma — the act of investigating
  • Turkish: tahkikat — the act of investigating
  • Ottoman Turkish: كشف (keşf, keşif) — the act of investigating
  • Ottoman Turkish: بحث (bahs, bahis) — the act of investigating
  • Ottoman Turkish: تحقیقات (tahkikat) — the act of investigating
  • Turkmen: derňew — the act of investigating
  • Turkmen: barlag — the act of investigating
  • Ukrainian: розслі́дування (rozslíduvannja) — the act of investigating
  • Ukrainian: дослі́дження (doslídžennja) — the act of investigating
  • Ukrainian: слі́дство (slídstvo) — the act of investigating
  • Urdu: تَحْقِیق (tahqīq) — the act of investigating
  • Urdu: جان٘چ (jā̃c) — the act of investigating
  • Urdu: باز پُرْس (bāz purs) — the act of investigating
  • Urdu: تَحْقِیقات (tahqīqāt) — the act of investigating
  • Uyghur: تەكشۈرۈش (tekshürüsh) — the act of investigating
  • Uyghur: تەھقىق (tehqiq) — the act of investigating
  • Uzbek: tekshirish — the act of investigating
  • Uzbek: tergov — the act of investigating
  • Uzbek: tahqiq — the act of investigating
  • Uzbek: tadqiqot — the act of investigating
  • Vietnamese: sự điều tra — the act of investigating
  • Vietnamese: cuộc điều tra — the act of investigating
Real reading context

investigation in complete knowledge articles