informant

American  

[in-fawr-muhnt] / ɪnˈfɔr mənt /

noun

informants plural

1. a person who informs 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.

---

informant British  

/ ɪnˈfɔːmənt /

noun

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

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• informants
  plural

Etymology

Origin of informant

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

Explanation

An informant is someone who secretly provides information to police, the FBI, or another law enforcement agency. If you watch a lot of crime shows on TV, you're probably familiar with informants. In the world of law enforcement, informants are officially called CIs, for "confidential informant" or "criminal informant." The information informants provide can be useful in catching criminals, and the informant usually gets something in return — money or a reduced prison sentence, for example. Sometimes informant simply means "person who gives information."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

informant informants

He traveled in a van with Abdel-Rahman and Emad Salem, the government informant who later became a key witness in the federal case against Abdel-Rahman.

From Slate ● Jul. 14, 2026

The defence case of Olatimbo Ayinde, the oil industry executive who was also found not guilty by the jury, was she had been working as an informant for the Nigerian authorities to expose corruption.

From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2026

Accompanied by an alleged informant, Magane said they asked an employee to open the container so they could "verify the information".

From BBC ● May 30, 2026

To convict him, the state relied on the testimony of a paid jailhouse informant, while no physical evidence suggested he was present at the crime scene.

From Slate ● Apr. 20, 2026

She was under deep cover, moving quietly toward her first dead drop with the CIA's most important Soviet informant.

From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau

In April 2025, the governor of Nigeria's embattled Borno state, Babagana Zulum, alleged that informants and collaborators for Boko Haram insurgents were operating within the country's armed forces, political class and local communities.

From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026

It said they identified those behind the abduction and dismantled their support network, including informants and hideouts in the Old Oyo National Park forest.

From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026

As agents examined tax returns and other financial documents, SPLC’s spending on informants caught their attention, the people said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026

The group paid informants starting in the 1980s, sometimes using fictitious companies to disguise the payments, according to the indictment.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026

In fairness, however, other Southern whites roundly condemned it and claimed it was not as typical as my informants suggested.

From "Black Like Me" by John Howard Griffin