introspect

I1N1T1R1O1S1P3E1C3T1
/ˌɪntɹəˈspɛkt/

verb

To engage in introspection.

OriginLatin intrōspectus →
UncommonScrabble 14
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Meanings

verbintrospect (third-person singular simple present introspects, present participle introspecting, simple past and past participle introspected)

present singular third person introspects · participle present introspecting · participle past introspected · past introspected

  1. intransitiveTo engage in introspection.
  2. transitiveTo look into.

    Second, to say that something is introspectible, that we can introspect it, is not to imply that we are in fact aware of it. What's more, I haven't claimed that we even can introspect all the thoughts we have, only that we can introspect that we have two important sorts of thoughts.

    2012, J. R. Mendola, Human Thought
  3. transitivecomputingTo examine by means of type introspection.

    DynamicMBeanFacade uses Java's reflection API to introspect the managed resource and discover data type information for attributes.

    2002, Java Enterprise Best Practices, O'Reilly

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
agitatebethinkconsidermuseoverthinkponder

Origin

  1. Latinintrōspectus
  2. Englishintrospect

From Latin intrōspectus, past participle of intrōspiciō. By surface analysis, intro- + -spect.

More words from Latin

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

French s'examiner, examiner
  • s'examinerintransitive
  • examinertransitive
Spanish introspeccionarse, introspeccionar
  • introspeccionarseintransitive
  • introspeccionartransitive

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with introspect

subjectprojectselectdirecteffectobjectperfectrespectconnectcorrectprotectexpectaffectreflectcollectcheckedsuspectdetectincorrectindirectprospectelectdefectneglect
All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

introspect. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/introspect

MLA

“introspect.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/introspect. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “introspect,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/introspect.

Source: introspect on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.