interrogate

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To question someone closely and often aggressively.

   The police interrogated the suspect for hours before letting him go.

2. 2
   verb

   To examine something critically and in depth.

   The essay interrogates the assumptions behind modern advertising.

3. 3
   verb

   To request information from a system or database.

   The software interrogates the database to find matching records.

Simplified etymology

Interrogate was borrowed in the late Middle English period from the stem interrogat- of Latin interrogare. That verb combines inter, “between” or “at intervals,” with rogare, “to ask”; the related noun interrogation appeared in English nearly a century before the verb.

Learned borrowing from Latin interrogātus, the perfect passive participle of Latin interrogō (“to inquire, interrogate”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix).

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary