interview
Americannoun
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a formal meeting in which one or more persons question, consult, or evaluate another person.
a job interview.
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a meeting or conversation in which a writer or reporter asks questions of one or more persons from whom material is sought for a newspaper story, television broadcast, etc.
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the report of such a conversation or meeting.
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
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to have an interview; be interviewed (sometimes followed bywith ).
She interviewed with eight companies before accepting a job.
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to give or conduct an interview.
to interview to fill job openings.
noun
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a conversation with or questioning of a person, usually conducted for television, radio, or a newspaper
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a formal discussion, esp one in which an employer assesses an applicant for a job
verb
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to conduct an interview with (someone)
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(intr) to be interviewed, esp for a job
he interviewed well and was given the position
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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intervieweenoun
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interviewernoun
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preinterviewnoun
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reinterviewnoun
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self-interviewnoun
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interviewableadjective
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quasi-interviewedadjective
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uninterviewedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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interviewsimple
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interviewssimple
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have interviewedperfect
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has interviewedperfect
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am interviewingprogressive
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are interviewingprogressive
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is interviewingprogressive
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have been interviewingperfect progressive
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has been interviewingperfect progressive
Past
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interviewedsimple
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had interviewedperfect
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was interviewingprogressive
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were interviewingprogressive
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had been interviewingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of interview
First recorded in 1505–15; inter- + view; replacing enterview, from Middle French entrevue, noun use of feminine of entrevu “glimpsed,” past participle of entrevoir “to glimpse,” from entre “between” + voir “to see”
Explanation
Interview can be a verb or a noun, but whatever form it takes, it involves a formal meeting and asking or answering questions. When you go to a job interview, be prepared to answer questions about your strengths and weaknesses. The noun form of interview refers to a question-and-answer session. You’ve probably seen a TV interview with a famous person, or you may have gone to an interview with a college admissions director. The verb form of the word describes the act of asking the questions. You might interview a local politician for your school paper. Often an interview involves some kind of evaluation, so speak carefully if someone is interviewing you, especially if it's going to be published!
Vocabulary lists containing interview
TEKS ELAR Academic Vocabulary List (5th-7th grades)
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Common Senses: Vid, Vis ("See")
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Journalism
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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:
He has not taken questions from journalists after speeches and has so far given an interview only to Andrew Marr on LBC.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
That metric is currently signaling that investors should tread carefully, Opsal said in a phone interview Monday.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026
During an interview with the Journal in late June, a delivery of fresh meals arrived at her doorstep, the same ones Johnson tweeted about that day.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
A bandanna covers his face for any public appearances, and if an interview isn’t happening in person, he avoids phone or video calls.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026
Too late, I realized my misstep—Anna May had wanted to use my arrival as an excuse to end the interview, and I’d botched that for her.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
To preserve the history of these neighborhoods, Clockshop, an arts organization, has been collecting interviews with locals as part of a multimedia oral history project since 2023.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026
She fronted up for difficult interviews after every defeat, never wavered in her support of her team-mates, endlessly put in hard graft after injuries threatened to end her career before she was ready.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
Subscribers can watch all the programming live on YouTube, including interviews with NBA Finals MVP Jalen Brunson, soccer star-turned-investor Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and NBA commissioner Adam Silver.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026
Next, he adopted a more tailored approach that led to interviews, but no offers.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 11, 2026
You know how some celebrities wax poetic in interviews about how they just knew they'd be famous?
From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi
Britney Nguyen described SK Hynix for U.S. investors and interviewed money managers who explained the significance of the ADR listing.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 10, 2026
I interviewed Mitch McConnell for the first time when I was 17, and I was warned by my uncle who knew him well that he was about one thing and one thing only.
From Salon ● Jul. 10, 2026
Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Augie Romo confirmed to The Times that three minors were interviewed in connection with the Ladera Ranch brushfire and that no arrests were made.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
Mr. Sheffi has interviewed scores of Jewish and Israeli students and recorded their heartbreak.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
Father was on television, getting interviewed by some reporters.
From "The Rock and the River" by Kekla Magoon
To supplement what I did have, I would show up to interviews with self-published articles and story pitches that might appeal to the employer I was interviewing with.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 8, 2026
Lau and require border officers interviewing green-card holders to have clear and convincing evidence of a crime before putting their legal permanent resident status in jeopardy.
From Slate ● Jul. 6, 2026
When Lamar was interviewing for his IT job, his hiring manager told him how much he liked his TikTok videos - even though it wasn't mentioned on Lamar's CV.
From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2026
I was interviewing Jerry Seinfeld for The New Yorker when I was working on the book, and I read a couple of the behind-the-scenes books, and talked to some “Seinfeld” writers.
From Salon ● Jul. 5, 2026
For example, I happened to be visiting New Guinea’s Iyau people at a time when a woman anthropologist was interviewing Iyau women about their life histories.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
