Meanings
verbexamine (third-person singular simple present examines, present participle examining, simple past and past participle examined)
present singular third person examines · participle present examining · participle past examined · past examined · alternative obsolete examin
- transitiveTo observe carefully or critically to learn about someone or something.
He examined the crime scene for clues.
4 more examples
She examined the hair sample under a microscope.
Well, nobody knows about the little things / Nobody knows what they really mean / Nobody ever wants to take the time / To examine what's on your mind
1979, Ashford & Simpson, “Nobody Knows”, in Stay Free (album)With fresh material, taxonomic conclusions are leavened by recognition that the material examined reflects the site it occupied; a herbarium packet gives one only a small fraction of the data desirable for sound conclusions. Herbarium material does not, indeed, allow one to extrapolate safely: what you see is what you get[…]
1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page viiThe new study examines development activities for different AI technologies worldwide.
2019 February 3, “UN Study: China, US, Japan Lead World AI Development”, in Voice of America, archived from the original on 07 Feb 2019Synonyms: canvass
- transitiveTo determine the aptitude, skills or qualifications of someone by subjecting them to an examination.
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo observe carefully or critically to learn about someone or something.
Similar
Opposite
More synonyms by meaning
verbconsider in detail and subject to an analysis in order to discover essential features or meaning
verbput to the test, as for its quality, or give experimental use to
Broader
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinexāmināre
- Old Frenchexaminer
- Middle Englishexaminen
- Englishexamine
From Middle English examinen, examenen, from Old French examiner, from Latin exāmināre.
More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek σκέπτομαι, δοκιμάζω
- σκέπτομαι (sképtomai)to observe or inspect carefully or critically
- δοκιμάζω (dokimázō)to determine the aptitude, skills or qualifications of someone by subjecting them to an examination
- βασανίζω (basanízō)to interrogate
Arabic فَحَصَ, اِمْتَحَنَ
- فَحَصَ (faḥaṣa)to observe or inspect carefully or critically
- اِمْتَحَنَ (imtaḥana)to observe or inspect carefully or critically
Bulgarian изсле́двам, проу́чвам
- изсле́двам (izslédvam)to observe or inspect carefully or critically
- проу́чвам (proúčvam)to observe or inspect carefully or critically
- проу́ча (proúča)to observe or inspect carefully or critically
- прегле́ждам (pregléždam)to check the health or condition of something or someone
- прегле́дам (preglédam)to check the health or condition of something or someone
- изпи́твам (izpítvam)to determine the aptitude, skills or qualifications of someone by subjecting them to an examination
- разпи́твам (razpítvam)to interrogate
- разпи́там (razpítam)to interrogate
Catalan examinar
- examinarto observe or inspect carefully or critically
Chinese Mandarin 检查, 调查
- 检查 (jiǎnchá)to observe or inspect carefully or critically
- 调查 (diàochá)to observe or inspect carefully or critically
Czech vyšetřovat, vyšetřit
- vyšetřovatto check the health or condition of something or someone
- vyšetřitto check the health or condition of something or someone
- zkoušetto determine the aptitude, skills or qualifications of someone by subjecting them to an examination
- vyzkoušetto determine the aptitude, skills or qualifications of someone by subjecting them to an examination
Danish undersøge
- undersøgeto observe or inspect carefully or critically
Dutch onderzoeken, examineren
- onderzoekento observe or inspect carefully or critically
- examinerento determine the aptitude, skills or qualifications of someone by subjecting them to an examination
Esperanto ekzameni
- ekzamenito observe or inspect carefully or critically
Finnish tutkia, tarkastella
- tutkiato observe or inspect carefully or critically
- tarkastellato observe or inspect carefully or critically
- tutkiato check the health or condition of something or someone
- tutkiato determine the aptitude, skills or qualifications of someone by subjecting them to an examination
- tarkastaato determine the aptitude, skills or qualifications of someone by subjecting them to an examination
- kuulustellato interrogate
French examiner, examiner
- examinerto observe or inspect carefully or critically
- examinerto check the health or condition of something or someone
German untersuchen, untersuchen
- untersuchento observe or inspect carefully or critically
- untersuchento check the health or condition of something or someone
- untersuchento determine the aptitude, skills or qualifications of someone by subjecting them to an examination
- prüfento determine the aptitude, skills or qualifications of someone by subjecting them to an examination
- befragento interrogate
Hindi जाँचना, जाँच करना
- जाँचना (jā̃cnā)to observe or inspect carefully or critically
- जाँच करना (jā̃c karnā)to observe or inspect carefully or critically
Hungarian megvizsgál, górcső alá vesz
- megvizsgálto observe or inspect carefully or critically
- górcső alá veszto observe or inspect carefully or critically
- vizsgálto observe or inspect carefully or critically
- kivizsgálto observe or inspect carefully or critically
- bevizsgálto observe or inspect carefully or critically
- ellenőrizto observe or inspect carefully or critically
- átvizsgálto observe or inspect carefully or critically
- tanulmányozto observe or inspect carefully or critically
- vizsgálto check the health or condition of something or someone
- megvizsgálto check the health or condition of something or someone
- vizsgáztatto determine the aptitude, skills or qualifications of someone by subjecting them to an examination
- kihallgatto interrogate
Italian esaminare
- esaminareto observe or inspect carefully or critically
Japanese 調べる, 診察する
- 調べる (shiraberu)to observe or inspect carefully or critically
- 診察する (shinsatsu suru)to check the health or condition of something or someone
- 検査する (kensa suru)to determine the aptitude, skills or qualifications of someone by subjecting them to an examination
- 尋問する (jinmon suru)to interrogate
Korean 검사하다, 조사하다
- 검사하다 (geomsahada)to observe or inspect carefully or critically
- 조사하다 (josahada)to observe or inspect carefully or critically
Latin scīscitor, speculor
- scīscitorto observe or inspect carefully or critically
- speculorto observe or inspect carefully or critically
- scrūtorto observe or inspect carefully or critically
- aspiciōto observe or inspect carefully or critically
- dispectōto observe or inspect carefully or critically
- īnspiciōto observe or inspect carefully or critically
- scīscitorto check the health or condition of something or someone
- scīscitorto determine the aptitude, skills or qualifications of someone by subjecting them to an examination
- scīscitorto interrogate
Lithuanian apžiūrėti, apklausti
- apžiūrėtito check the health or condition of something or someone
- apklaustito interrogate
Māori matawai, whakatare
- matawaito observe or inspect carefully or critically
- whakatareto observe or inspect carefully or critically
- whakataretareto observe or inspect carefully or critically
Norwegian Bokmål undersøke, undersøke
- undersøketo observe or inspect carefully or critically
- undersøketo check the health or condition of something or someone
- eksaminereto determine the aptitude, skills or qualifications of someone by subjecting them to an examination
Persian معاینه کردن, بازجویی کردن
- معاینه کردن (mo'âyene kardan)to observe or inspect carefully or critically
- بازجویی کردن (bâzjui kardan)to interrogate
- بازجستن (bâz-jostan)to interrogate
Polish badać, zbadać
- badaćto check the health or condition of something or someone
- zbadaćto check the health or condition of something or someone
Portuguese examinar, analisar
- examinarto observe or inspect carefully or critically
- analisarto observe or inspect carefully or critically
- examinarto check the health or condition of something or someone
- examinarto determine the aptitude, skills or qualifications of someone by subjecting them to an examination
- testarto determine the aptitude, skills or qualifications of someone by subjecting them to an examination
- interrogarto interrogate
Russian осма́тривать, осмотре́ть
- осма́тривать (osmátrivatʹ)to observe or inspect carefully or critically
- осмотре́ть (osmotrétʹ)to observe or inspect carefully or critically
- осма́тривать (osmátrivatʹ)to check the health or condition of something or someone
- осмотре́ть (osmotrétʹ)to check the health or condition of something or someone
- испы́тывать (ispýtyvatʹ)to determine the aptitude, skills or qualifications of someone by subjecting them to an examination
- испыта́ть (ispytátʹ)to determine the aptitude, skills or qualifications of someone by subjecting them to an examination
- допра́шивать (doprášivatʹ)to interrogate
- допроси́ть (doprosítʹ)to interrogate
Slovak skúmať, preskúmať
- skúmaťto observe or inspect carefully or critically
- preskúmaťto observe or inspect carefully or critically
- vyšetrovaťto check the health or condition of something or someone
- vyšetriťto check the health or condition of something or someone
- skúšaťto determine the aptitude, skills or qualifications of someone by subjecting them to an examination
- vyskúšaťto determine the aptitude, skills or qualifications of someone by subjecting them to an examination
- vypočúvaťto interrogate
- vypočuťto interrogate
Spanish examinar, analizar
- examinarto observe or inspect carefully or critically
- analizarto observe or inspect carefully or critically
- auscultarto check the health or condition of something or someone
- examinarto determine the aptitude, skills or qualifications of someone by subjecting them to an examination
Swahili -kagua, -kagua
- -kaguato observe or inspect carefully or critically
- -kaguato check the health or condition of something or someone
- -tahinito determine the aptitude, skills or qualifications of someone by subjecting them to an examination
- -hojito interrogate
Swedish observera, undersöka
- observerato observe or inspect carefully or critically
- undersökato observe or inspect carefully or critically
- undersökato check the health or condition of something or someone
- undersökato determine the aptitude, skills or qualifications of someone by subjecting them to an examination
- fråga utto interrogate
- förhörato interrogate
Thai ไต่สวน
- ไต่สวน (dtài-sǔuan)to interrogate
Turkish muayene etmek
- muayene etmekto observe or inspect carefully or critically
Ukrainian огляда́ти, огля́нути
- огляда́ти (ohljadáty)to observe or inspect carefully or critically
- огля́нути (ohljánuty)to observe or inspect carefully or critically
- огле́діти (ohlédity)to observe or inspect carefully or critically
- огля́діти (ohljádity)to observe or inspect carefully or critically
- огляда́ти (ohljadáty)to check the health or condition of something or someone
- огля́нути (ohljánuty)to check the health or condition of something or someone
- огле́діти (ohlédity)to check the health or condition of something or someone
- огля́діти (ohljádity)to check the health or condition of something or someone
- обсте́жувати (obstéžuvaty)to check the health or condition of something or someone
- обсте́жити (obstéžyty)to check the health or condition of something or someone
- випро́бувати (vypróbuvaty)to determine the aptitude, skills or qualifications of someone by subjecting them to an examination
- ви́пробувати (výprobuvaty)to determine the aptitude, skills or qualifications of someone by subjecting them to an examination
Cite this entry
APA
examine. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/examine
MLA
“examine.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/examine. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “examine,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/examine.
Source: examine on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.