informant

American  

[in-fawr-muhnt] / ɪnˈfɔr mənt /

noun

1. a person who informs inform or gives information; informer.

   Synonyms:

   tipster, adviser, source

2. a person who supplies social or cultural data in answer to the questions of an investigator.

3. Linguistics. a native speaker of a language who supplies utterances and forms for one analyzing or learning the language.

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informant British  

/ ɪnˈfɔːmənt /

noun

1. a person who gives information about a thing, a subject being studied, etc

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Etymology

Origin of informant

1655–65; < Latin infōrmant- (stem of infōrmāns ) present participle of infōrmāre. See inform ¹, -ant

Example Sentences

“They have a presence in workplaces, schools, movie theaters and informants on every street block,” he said.

From The Wall Street Journal

But informants can’t be used by law enforcement once a defendant has been charged and represented by an attorney.

From Los Angeles Times

“Abdulhaq did not cover his face while on mission, leaving him recognizable to Taliban informants, further endangering his life.”

From Los Angeles Times

Earlier this year, MI5 was forced to apologise after the BBC proved it gave false evidence to three courts in a case concerning a neo-Nazi state informant known as Agent X.

From BBC

Mexico’s financial-intelligence unit froze bank accounts tied to shell companies that funded informant networks and used to pay their lawyers, according to another person familiar with the operation.

From The Wall Street Journal