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
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interrogatinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
interrogatesimple
-
interrogatessimple
-
have interrogatedperfect
-
has interrogatedperfect
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am interrogatingprogressive
-
are interrogatingprogressive
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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:
Did ordinary people really want to interrogate Thanksgiving like this?
From Slate ● Aug. 17, 2026
She should read labels, mistrust mysterious additives, interrogate old nutritional orthodoxies and learn to distinguish “real” food from whatever came before it.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026
She also made Hall's family members "interested persons", meaning they would be able to interrogate evidence or witnesses at a future inquest.
From BBC ● Jun. 16, 2026
Analysts told AFP that US government officials and lawmakers are likely to interrogate Cheng on the KMT's position on China and its decision to slash the government's special defence budget.
From Barron's ● Jun. 1, 2026
In two years, astonishingly, Mendel had produced a set of reagents that would allow him to interrogate some of the most important features of heredity.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
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
Through its structure, casting, music and lyrics, “Hamilton” interrogates the dominant, whitewashed narrative of America.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2025
Barrie’s “Peter Pan,” which interrogates the idea of holding onto youthful innocence.
From Salon ● Jul. 17, 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
She was interrogated, accused of being a spy, stripped of her security clearance and sent back to her unit in Guildford, where she was put on laundry duty.
From BBC ● Jun. 22, 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
Before the FBI interrogated him, they asked him to sign a piece of paper.
From Slate ● Apr. 19, 2026
But The Wall Street Journal spoke to two men who said they were detained and interrogated by Hamas at Nasser hospital in recent weeks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 15, 2026
So he can spend another few hours being interrogated about Hudson?
From "What If It's Us" by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera
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
It’s also not like superhero comic books haven’t had storylines about marginalized communities or interrogating people in power.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 6, 2026
Another, “Altars,” is a tame and ultimately bland song by Ms. Aitchison’s high standards, with a chorus—“One is not the loneliest number”—that draws on a pop cliché without interrogating or transforming it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 17, 2026
But I am telling you—you who know so much about interrogating people and observing the hidden meaning of their hearts—I am telling you; I think she might have looked away to strengthen herself.
From "The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams" by Daniel Nayeri
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.
