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verb

investigate

CEFR B2

to examine something carefully and systematically in order to discover the facts

In a sentence

Six example sentences with investigate, each labelled with its topic.

  • The head chef stayed late to investigate why loaves from the back oven came out pale, checking each thermostat and rack in turn.

    Cooking

  • Moderators began to investigate the suspicious speedrun, replaying the recording frame by frame and comparing the input log against the game's timer.

    Gaming

  • The photographer had to investigate why every frame from the trip came back streaked, checking the lens, the sensor, and finally the scanner.

    Photography

  • Two detectives were assigned to investigate the missing ledger, starting with everyone who had a key to the office.

    Law

  • The board hired an outside firm to investigate the expense claims, and the report ran to two hundred pages.

    Business

  • Engineers spent the weekend trying to investigate the crash, reading logs line by line until one timestamp stood out.

    Technology

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Found in these word lists

Found in 7 published word listsAuthoritative

Each source is a published word list that contains investigate. No exam board publishes an official GRE, GMAT or SAT list; GMAT words come from GRE lists and the Academic Word List.

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