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

According to the informant, Perez said he was driving with three others in his green Honda Accord when they spotted a pickup truck.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 19, 2026

They argued that the two men to whom he sent the messages were unlikely to carry out a murder—a federal informant with a bad back and a fellow union carpenter with no criminal history.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 22, 2026

Paul Hare, a former British ambassador to Cuba and Venezuela, argued that Cuban intelligence underestimated US access to "insider cooperation in Venezuela" -- an informant within Maduro's camp.

From Barron's • Jan. 10, 2026

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 • Dec. 9, 2025

Heather’s a great informant because she’s never more than a shout away from my brother.

From "I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson