Meanings
plural investigations
- countableuncountableThe act of investigating; the process of inquiring into or following up; research, especially patient or thorough inquiry or examination
carry out an investigation
5 more examples
The investigation into the crime has led to various leads as well as plenty of dead ends.
Despite thorough investigation, the perpetrator of the attacks remains unknown.
the matter is awaiting investigation
The case is still under investigation.
Railway police are making a full investigation into the matter, and the headmasters of schools have been approached, but it is difficult in such cases to discover the culprits, unless they are caught red-handed.
1960 May 28, “Wanton Damage in Trains”, in Railway Magazine, page 300
Synonyms & antonyms
nounthe work of inquiring into something thoroughly and systematically
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latininvestigatio
- Old Frenchinvestigacion
- Middle Englishinvestigacioun
- Englishinvestigation
From Middle English investigacioun, from Old French investigacion, from Latin investigatio. Morphologically investigate + -ion.
More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans ondersoek
- ondersoekthe act of investigating
Arabic تَحْقِيق
- تَحْقِيق (taḥqīq)the act of investigating
Bulgarian разсле́дване
- разсле́дване (razslédvane)the act of investigating
Catalan investigació
- investigacióthe act of investigating
Chinese Mandarin 調查 /调查
- 調查 /调查 (diàochá)the act of investigating
Czech vyšetřování
- vyšetřováníthe act of investigating
Danish efterforskning, undersøgelse
- efterforskningthe act of investigating
- undersøgelsethe act of investigating
Dutch onderzoek, nasporing
- onderzoekthe act of investigating
- nasporingthe act of investigating
Esperanto enketo
- enketothe act of investigating
Estonian uurimine
- uuriminethe act of investigating
Finnish tutkimus, selvitys
- tutkimusthe act of investigating
- selvitysthe act of investigating
French investigation, enquête
- investigationthe act of investigating
- enquêtethe act of investigating
German Untersuchung
- Untersuchungthe act of investigating
Greek έρευνα, διερεύνηση
- έρευνα (érevna)the act of investigating
- διερεύνηση (dierévnisi)the act of investigating
Hebrew חֲקִירָה
- חֲקִירָה (khakirá)the act of investigating
Hindi जाँच, तहक़ीक़ात
- जाँच (jā̃c)the act of investigating
- तहक़ीक़ात (tahqīqāt)the act of investigating
Hungarian nyomozás, vizsgálat
- nyomozásthe act of investigating
- vizsgálatthe act of investigating
Icelandic rannsókn, könnun
- rannsóknthe act of investigating
- könnunthe act of investigating
Indonesian investigasi, penyelidikan
- investigasithe act of investigating
- penyelidikanthe act of investigating
Irish fiosrúchán
- fiosrúchánthe act of investigating
Italian investigazione, inchiesta
- investigazionethe act of investigating
- inchiestathe act of investigating
Japanese 調査
- 調査 (chōsa)the act of investigating
Korean 조사
- 조사 (josa)the act of investigating
Latin quaestiō, indagatio
- quaestiōthe act of investigating
- indagatiothe act of investigating
- investigatiothe act of investigating
Latvian izmeklēšana
- izmeklēšanathe act of investigating
Lithuanian tyrimas, tardymas
- tyrimasthe act of investigating
- tardymasthe act of investigating
Malay penyiasatan
- penyiasatanthe act of investigating
Māori rapunga, mātaitanga
- rapungathe act of investigating
- mātaitangathe act of investigating
- tūhuratangathe act of investigating
- hurahuratangathe act of investigating
- whakatewhatewhathe act of investigating
Norwegian Bokmål etterforskning, etterforsking
- etterforskningthe act of investigating
- etterforskingthe act of investigating
Polish śledztwo, dochodzenie
- śledztwothe act of investigating
- dochodzeniethe act of investigating
Portuguese investigação
- investigaçãothe act of investigating
Romanian investigație
- investigațiethe act of investigating
Russian сле́дствие, рассле́дование
- сле́дствие (slédstvije)the act of investigating
- рассле́дование (rasslédovanije)the act of investigating
- иссле́дование (isslédovanije)the act of investigating
Slovak vyšetrovanie
- vyšetrovaniethe act of investigating
Spanish investigación, pesquisa
- investigaciónthe act of investigating
- pesquisathe act of investigating
- indagaciónthe act of investigating
Swedish undersökning
- undersökningthe act of investigating
Thai การสอบสวน, การสืบสวน
- การสอบสวน (gaan-sɔ̀ɔp-sǔuan)the act of investigating
- การสืบสวน (gaan-sʉ̀ʉp-sǔuan)the act of investigating
Turkish inceleme, soruşturma
- incelemethe act of investigating
- soruşturmathe act of investigating
- tahkikatthe act of investigating
Ukrainian розслі́дування, дослі́дження
- розслі́дування (rozslíduvannja)the act of investigating
- дослі́дження (doslídžennja)the act of investigating
- слі́дство (slídstvo)the act of investigating
Urdu تَحْقِیق, جان٘چ
- تَحْقِیق (tahqīq)the act of investigating
- جان٘چ (jā̃c)the act of investigating
- باز پُرْس (bāz purs)the act of investigating
- تَحْقِیقات (tahqīqāt)the act of investigating
Vietnamese sự điều tra, cuộc điều tra
- sự điều trathe act of investigating
- cuộc điều trathe act of investigating
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with investigation
Anagrams
Cite this entry
investigation. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/investigation
“investigation.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/investigation. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “investigation,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/investigation.
Source: investigation on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.