interrogate
Other forms: interrogated; interrogating; interrogates
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.
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pose a series of questions to
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transmit (a signal) for setting off an appropriate response, as in telecommunication
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Vocabulary lists containing interrogate
In this epic poem, clever Odysseus attempts to find his way home after the end of the Trojan War. Learn these words from the translation by Robert Fitzgerald. Here are links to our lists for the book: Books 1–7, Books 8–13, Books 14–18, Books 19–24
National Grilled Cheese Day is celebrated on April 12. To show our appreciation for this iconic sandwich, we present a metaphorical "grilled cheese" sandwich — synonyms for grill, as in "question strenuously," plus synonyms for cheesy, as in "tacky." (Tomato soup not included.)
Are you craving just the right word to express how someone is expressing their needs, or suggesting their ideas? Ask and you shall receive! We suggest learning these terms that will come in handy when you're writing the most demanding dialogue.