interview
Americannoun
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interviews
plural
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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.
-
the report of such a conversation or meeting.
verb (used with object)
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interviews,
present (3rd person singular)
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interviewed,
past participle, past
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interviewing
present participle
verb (used without object)
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interviews,
present (3rd person singular)
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interviewed,
past participle, past
-
interviewing
present participle
-
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
-
interviewedsimple
-
had interviewedperfect
-
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:
“That might have been another reason why I said, ‘I want to do this,’” Chandler says during a recent interview.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
At the time of this interview, the fed-funds futures market shows about a 30% probability of a rate hike at the next meeting.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 17, 2026
Gen. Hossein Mohebbi said in an interview with the Guard-affiliated Tasnim news agency in July.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
Clarke was emphatic in his exit interview with the SFA, saying the core he developed over his seven-year spell is "not finished yet".
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
A formerly enslaved woman later spoke of Andrew Jackson as a “kind master” in an 1880 interview, long after Jackson’s death.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
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In interviews about the book, she reflected on the scrutiny and cruelty she faced as a young actor.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
According to interviews and internal emails reviewed by ProPublica, career staffers at the Justice Department warned that transferring voter rolls to HSI to enable it to search for noncitizen voters could violate federal privacy laws.
From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026
Our friends over at the Slate podcast Slow Burn are good at taking events that we think are settled history, then unlocking a new understanding of those stories through interviews, archives, and fresh analysis.
From Slate ● Aug. 15, 2026
A new WSJ documentary based on leaked data, interviews and never-before-seen videos reveals how a single team of these workers infiltrated at least eight companies in just a few months.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
He went to five different cities after his novel came out this spring, and even when he hasn’t been traveling, he’s had radio interviews and podcasts on top of his usual teaching.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
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David Evans, who declined to be formally interviewed, told The Times while moving cattle in the seashore on his ATV that he hadn’t known anything about the settlement.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
If anything, many of the Gen Z drinkers I interviewed sounded intensely interested in food, wine, cocktails and hospitality.
From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026
They have confirmed two people have been interviewed but made no arrests.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
This bearish view on markets comes from the founder and managing director of CrossBorder Capital, Mike Howell, who was interviewed on the Macro Voices podcast Thursday.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026
Quentin Reynolds, an American journalist, interviewed Katya Budanova before her death.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
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"One thing I really don't like is this culture now of interviewing via Zoom or Teams," the prime minister told a careers podcast, adding: "How does a young person shine in that situation?"
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
Trump has also heard recently from right-wing activist Laura Loomer, who reversed her longstanding criticism of Ukraine after traveling to Kyiv and interviewing Zelensky.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
State health agencies take the lead in interviewing patients, and those agencies are disparately funded.
From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2026
It was also researching and interviewing lots of different people.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 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
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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.