investigator
Britishnoun
Explanation
Every crime novel has an investigator, someone whose job it is to discover the truth. Not all investigators solve crimes, but to be an investigator you need to work hard to figure things out. A private investigator knocks at your door. Do you let him in? He probably only wants to ask questions, because that’s what investigators do: they research. Scientists are investigators, so are police officers, and even your friend who reads lots of books about butterflies can be considered an investigator. Rooted in the Latin word vestigare, meaning “trace out,” investigators gather facts in order to trace out the whole picture.
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.
Romance: Another of Pynchon’s late crime novels, “Bleeding Edge” also chronicles the tender but tested love between insurance investigator Maxine Tarnower and her phlegmatic husband, Horst.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 9, 2026
These findings are the result of nearly ten years of collaborative work between Araneda's lab at UMD and the laboratory of María de los Ángeles García-Robles at the University of Concepción, the project's principal investigator.
From Science Daily • Apr. 6, 2026
Prince Harry's legal team says private investigator Gavin Burrows signed a statement in 2021 confirming he carried out some of the most serious wrong-doing alleged against the Mail newspapers.
From BBC • Mar. 31, 2026
The NTSB's lead investigator Doug Brazy said the board was analyzing more than 25 hours of cockpit voice recordings and 80 hours of flight data.
From Barron's • Mar. 24, 2026
The private eyes learned that the marriage had been orchestrated by Minnie Savage—a “shrewd, immoral, capable woman,” as one investigator put it, who ran a boardinghouse in Pawhuska.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
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.
