investigate

4 definitions • 10 examples

to examine a crime, problem, statement, etc. carefully, especially to discover the truth:

Police are investigating allegations of corruption involving senior executives.

[ + question word ] We are of course investigating how an error like this could have occurred.

Investigating further, we discovered that Carol was the person who took the call.

to examine something carefully, esp. to discover the truth about it:

[ I ] There was a suspicious man near the playground, and we asked the police to investigate.

[ T ] The school created an independent review board to investigate charges of misconduct.

to examine a crime, problem, statement, etc. carefully, especially to discover the truth:

The FBI was called in to investigate.

Detectives will continue to investigate the incident.

investigate allegations/claims/complaints of sth The office is investigating the allegations of embezzlement.

investigate how/whether/why The commission will investigate whether these companies violated anti-trust laws.

to try to discover the truth about someone who is accused of a crime:

investigate sb for sth The IRS are investigating Williams for alleged tax fraud.