interrogate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
interrogates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
interrogated,
past participle, past
-
interrogating
present participle
-
to ask questions of (a person), sometimes to seek answers or information that the person questioned considers personal or secret.
- Synonyms:
- query
-
to examine by questions; question formally.
The police captain interrogated the suspect.
-
to analyze (an idea or belief), especially by thoroughly and dispassionately questioning its underlying assumptions.
The antiwork movement seeks to interrogate the concept of work as we know it today.
verb (used without object)
-
interrogates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
interrogated,
past participle, past
-
interrogating
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
interrogeenoun
-
reinterrogateverb
-
interrogableadjective
-
uninterrogableadjective
-
uninterrogatedadjective
-
interrogatinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
interrogatesimple
-
interrogatessimple
-
have interrogatedperfect
-
has interrogatedperfect
-
am interrogatingprogressive
-
are interrogatingprogressive
-
is interrogatingprogressive
-
have been interrogatingperfect progressive
-
has been interrogatingperfect progressive
Past
-
interrogatedsimple
-
had interrogatedperfect
-
was interrogatingprogressive
-
were interrogatingprogressive
-
had been interrogatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of interrogate
First recorded in 1475–85; from Latin interrogātus, past participle of interrogāre “to question, examine,” equivalent to inter- “between, among, together” + rogā(re) “to ask” + -tus past participle suffix; see inter-
Explanation
To interrogate is to ask someone a bunch of questions. Usually, it’s the police, FBI, or other law-enforcement officials who interrogate suspects, but your father-in-law may interrogate you about your career plans. Interrogate comes from the Latin prefix inter-, “between” added to the Latin verb rogare, “to ask.” To interrogate someone is not just asking a few polite questions over a cup of tea. When you interrogate someone there is usually a method to the questioning with a specific mission in mind, like determining a criminal's motive or where she stashed the loot. Your college entrance interview may feel like an interrogation, but their mission is really just to get to know you.
Vocabulary lists containing interrogate
"The Odyssey" by Homer, Books 1–7
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For Grilled Cheese Day, Vocab with a Twist
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Instead of "Said": Words for Asking and Offering
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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:
"Defectors are the main source of information about the North," said Fyodor Tertitsky, lecturer at Seoul's Korea University, noting both South Korean intelligence and researchers interrogate them.
From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026
Did ordinary people really want to interrogate Thanksgiving like this?
From Slate ● Aug. 17, 2026
Teaming them up as a testy odd couple allows “Lanterns” to both highlight Hal’s insecurity and use the Green Lantern universe’s rules to interrogate systemic imbalances.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026
“Maybe they need to interrogate what’s in front of them more closely,” he says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
She was teaching me how to ruthlessly interrogate the subject that elicited the most sympathy and rationalizing— myself.
From "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Fielder interrogates their initial meeting and how their relationship unfolded in the film.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
ICE protests downtown had a powerful backdrop: the 1990 Barbara Kruger mural ‘Questions,’ which interrogates the very nature of power and control.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 23, 2025
The U-M team sorts and interrogates recycled pacemakers, only reconditioning those that have more than four years of battery life.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 20, 2024
Her album is the second part of a trilogy that interrogates the roots of American musical traditions and uncovers the often unheralded contributions made by black artists.
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2024
It is Don Estevan who interrogates, startled out of his slumber by the report of the gambusino’s gun, which has brought him in hurried haste to the post of guard.
From The Lost Mountain A Tale of Sonora by Mayne Reid
"I wanted to make something that interrogated that."
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
When he isn’t being interrogated, he spends several hours a day meditating.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
He was interrogated alongside his running mate in the presence of their lawyers, he said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026
Once in El Salvador, the crewmen of the Don Maca say they were interrogated, denied they were traffickers, and, eventually, were allowed to contact their families and leave for home.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 15, 2026
Anya peeked at Misha, who was still being interrogated about his heroics against the Nightingale.
From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack
"Ask some open questions, instead of interrogating them," he says.
From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2026
And if the conventional wisdom about a candidate is a lot friendlier on that platform than on a competitor’s, I’d spend some extra time interrogating why that might be happening.
From Slate ● Jul. 14, 2026
Katie’s journey towards a fully autonomous adulthood is their way of interrogating that, making her story as central to “Rooster” as Greg’s reinvention.
From Salon ● May 11, 2026
I wish the show’s wall text and labels weren’t so overloaded with jargon, verbs like navigating, negotiating, interrogating, decentering, decontextualizing, disrupting and destabilizing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 9, 2026
After checking the man’s passport to make sure he was who he said, and informally interrogating him to make sure he wasn’t a reporter, Bobby atypically agreed to dine with the stranger.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
