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
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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:
Lately, Skarsgård seems to be doing the same, gravitating toward roles that, at their core, interrogate the impact his looks have on other people.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026
"Our specialist teams have been working tirelessly to interrogate the many lines of enquiry involved in this hugely complex investigation," he said.
From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2026
"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
If they spotted someone approaching, they yanked a pull-chain that rang a bell in Miss Peregrine’s room, which meant that whenever I arrived she’d be waiting inside the door to interrogate me.
From "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" by Ransom Riggs
In one scene she attends a party with John Maynard Keynes, and she interrogates the economist much more avidly than she does the giant blue angel who materializes in Geoffrey’s bedroom.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 5, 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
Reuniting key creative players from the first film after more than 20 years, the new movie interrogates ideas of memory, legacy and what gets left behind.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 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
The religious poet, in his Night Thoughts, interrogates the inhabitants of a distant star, whether their race too has, in its history, events resembling the fall of man, and the redemption of man.
From The Plurality of Worlds by Edward Hitchcock
Posting on Instagram, Bird, the MP for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry, said the 23-strong group was "interrogated and ultimately prevented from crossing the border".
From BBC ● Oct. 27, 2026
"I wanted to make something that interrogated that."
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
Each day, he is interrogated for around four to six hours, sometimes longer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
Pujo’s counsel, Samuel Untermyer, interrogated Morgan relentlessly, forcing the banker into transparently false denials.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2026
When the police interrogated Ralph, they encountered a man as psychologically complicated as he was physically scarred.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
"Ask some open questions, instead of interrogating them," he says.
From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2026
But Trump’s latest posts appear less interested in interrogating Washington than in imagining him as a collaborator — writing, riding and offering design tips to his 21st-century successor.
From Salon ● Aug. 16, 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
Mr. Kendall’s biography avoids being an intrusive, interrogating look at the cartoonist and his longstanding narrative.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
I will do anything: she has only to mention his name and I remember now, I will do anything, anything, to avoid him interrogating me again.
From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein
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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.
