scrutiny

American  

[skroot-n-ee] / ˈskrut n i /

noun

• scrutinies
  plural

1. 

   a searching examination or investigation; minute inquiry.

2. surveillance; close and continuous watching or guarding.

3. a close and searching look.

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scrutiny British  

/ ˈskruːtɪnɪ /

noun

1. close or minute examination

2. a searching look

3. 1. (in the early Christian Church) a formal testing that catechumens had to undergo before being baptized

   2. a similar examination of candidates for holy orders

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Synonym Usage

See examination.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonscrutiny
  noun
• rescrutiny
  noun
• self-scrutiny
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• scrutinies
  plural

Etymology

Origin of scrutiny

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin scrūtinium “a search, inquiry, investigation,” derivative of scrūtārī “to search thoroughly”

Explanation

Scrutiny is when you look at something really closely, like when you are checking a test for mistakes. Scrutiny can also be an intense look, like when your mother looks at you — trying to tell if you might be lying. Scrutiny comes from the Latin scrutari, which means “to search,” but which originally meant, “to sort trash.” When you turn in a draft of your essay, you are subjecting it to your teacher's scrutiny — and there's a good chance that she'll find some sentences that can be "trashed" as well as sections that could be improved.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

scrutiny scrutinies

But videos of her barefoot run spread rapidly on social media and in newspapers, striking a nerve as India's education system faces unusual scrutiny.

From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026

Data centers are drawing intense scrutiny as Americans grow increasingly leery of AI and the technology’s potential risks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026

In March of this year, Fannie and Freddie announced new, stricter condo-financing standards that will require more scrutiny of a building’s finances.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026

And the little rationale the rule does provide does not withstand scrutiny.

From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026

"There was actually quite a lot of bad science going on throughout the period–people rushing in with results that didn’t always stand up to scrutiny."

From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson

In the late 1920s, his close analysis of a Shakespeare sonnet impressed Critic William Empson and led, indirectly, to the textual scrutinies of the New Criticism of the 1940s and '50s.

From Time Magazine Archive

Tellingly, Maritain notes what too many U.S. literary critics have ignored: that "American literature, in its most objective scrutinies, has been preoccupied with the beyond and the nameless which haunt our blood."

From Time Magazine Archive

The Maharaja himself told me that these three rigorous scrutinies had convinced him beyond doubt of her non-eating state.'

From Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda

The long probation called “abstinence” which led up to it is a survival of the primitive catechumenate with its scrutinies.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 5 "Cat" to "Celt" by Various

Out of their heartbreaking scrutinies there have come certain determinations which are being adopted rapidly wherever the social sense is aroused.

From The Business of Being a Woman by Ida M. Tarbell

Related Words

• analysis
• audit
• inquiry
• inspection
• investigation
• review
• search
• surveillance