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interview

American  
[in-ter-vyoo] / ˈɪn tərˌvju /

noun

  • interviews
    plural
  1. a formal meeting in which one or more persons question, consult, or evaluate another person.

    a job interview.

  2. a meeting or conversation in which a writer or reporter asks questions of one or more persons from whom material is sought for a newspaper story, television broadcast, etc.

  3. the report of such a conversation or meeting.


verb (used with object)

  • interviews,
    present (3rd person singular)
  • interviewed,
    past participle,  past
  • interviewing
    present participle
  1. to have an interview with in order to question, consult, or evaluate.

    to interview a job applicant;

    to interview the president.

verb (used without object)

  • interviews,
    present (3rd person singular)
  • interviewed,
    past participle,  past
  • interviewing
    present participle
  1. to have an interview; be interviewed (sometimes followed bywith ).

    She interviewed with eight companies before accepting a job.

  2. to give or conduct an interview.

    to interview to fill job openings.

interview British  
/ ˈɪntəˌvjuː /

noun

  1. a conversation with or questioning of a person, usually conducted for television, radio, or a newspaper

  2. a formal discussion, esp one in which an employer assesses an applicant for a job

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

  1. to conduct an interview with (someone)

  2. (intr) to be interviewed, esp for a job

    he interviewed well and was given the position

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

Etymology

Origin of interview

First recorded in 1505–15; inter- + view; replacing enterview, from Middle French entrevue, noun use of feminine of entrevu “glimpsed,” past participle of entrevoir “to glimpse,” from entre “between” + voir “to see”

Explanation

Interview can be a verb or a noun, but whatever form it takes, it involves a formal meeting and asking or answering questions. When you go to a job interview, be prepared to answer questions about your strengths and weaknesses. The noun form of interview refers to a question-and-answer session. You’ve probably seen a TV interview with a famous person, or you may have gone to an interview with a college admissions director. The verb form of the word describes the act of asking the questions. You might interview a local politician for your school paper. Often an interview involves some kind of evaluation, so speak carefully if someone is interviewing you, especially if it's going to be published!

Keep Reading on Vocabulary.com

Vocabulary lists containing interview

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

“That might have been another reason why I said, ‘I want to do this,’” Chandler says during a recent interview.

From Los Angeles Times Aug. 17, 2026

At the time of this interview, the fed-funds futures market shows about a 30% probability of a rate hike at the next meeting.

From MarketWatch Aug. 17, 2026

Gen. Hossein Mohebbi said in an interview with the Guard-affiliated Tasnim news agency in July.

From The Wall Street Journal Aug. 17, 2026

Clarke was emphatic in his exit interview with the SFA, saying the core he developed over his seven-year spell is "not finished yet".

From BBC Aug. 16, 2026

A formerly enslaved woman later spoke of Andrew Jackson as a “kind master” in an 1880 interview, long after Jackson’s death.

From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis

In interviews about the book, she reflected on the scrutiny and cruelty she faced as a young actor.

From Los Angeles Times Aug. 17, 2026

According to interviews and internal emails reviewed by ProPublica, career staffers at the Justice Department warned that transferring voter rolls to HSI to enable it to search for noncitizen voters could violate federal privacy laws.

From Salon Aug. 15, 2026

Our friends over at the Slate podcast Slow Burn are good at taking events that we think are settled history, then unlocking a new understanding of those stories through interviews, archives, and fresh analysis.

From Slate Aug. 15, 2026

A new WSJ documentary based on leaked data, interviews and never-before-seen videos reveals how a single team of these workers infiltrated at least eight companies in just a few months.

From The Wall Street Journal Aug. 14, 2026

He went to five different cities after his novel came out this spring, and even when he hasn’t been traveling, he’s had radio interviews and podcasts on top of his usual teaching.

From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison

David Evans, who declined to be formally interviewed, told The Times while moving cattle in the seashore on his ATV that he hadn’t known anything about the settlement.

From Los Angeles Times Aug. 16, 2026

If anything, many of the Gen Z drinkers I interviewed sounded intensely interested in food, wine, cocktails and hospitality.

From Salon Aug. 15, 2026

They have confirmed two people have been interviewed but made no arrests.

From BBC Aug. 14, 2026

This bearish view on markets comes from the founder and managing director of CrossBorder Capital, Mike Howell, who was interviewed on the Macro Voices podcast Thursday.

From MarketWatch Aug. 14, 2026

Quentin Reynolds, an American journalist, interviewed Katya Budanova before her death.

From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein

"One thing I really don't like is this culture now of interviewing via Zoom or Teams," the prime minister told a careers podcast, adding: "How does a young person shine in that situation?"

From BBC Jul. 30, 2026

Trump has also heard recently from right-wing activist Laura Loomer, who reversed her longstanding criticism of Ukraine after traveling to Kyiv and interviewing Zelensky.

From The Wall Street Journal Jul. 28, 2026

State health agencies take the lead in interviewing patients, and those agencies are disparately funded.

From Slate Jul. 22, 2026

It was also researching and interviewing lots of different people.

From Los Angeles Times Jul. 22, 2026

For example, I happened to be visiting New Guinea’s Iyau people at a time when a woman anthropologist was interviewing Iyau women about their life histories.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

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