Examine

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ɪɡˈzæmɪn/

Definitions

1. To look at something closely and carefully in order to learn more about it or check its condition
2. To inspect, investigate, or look at something closely and carefully in order to learn more about it
3. To analyze or scrutinize an object or subject thoroughly to understand its details or qualities

Etymology: The Latin "exāmināre" meant to weigh or test, and its roots are surprisingly physical. It is built from "examen," which referred to the pointer or tongue of a balance, the needle that swings to show whether two pans are level. To examine something, then, was originally to weigh it up and see where it tipped, a picture of careful judgment in which the scale is the instrument. The "examen" itself is often traced to a root meaning to drive or swarm, which is why a tongue of a scale was imagined as something that moves back and forth. The word reached English through Old French "examiner," and Middle English gave it the forms "examinen" and "examenen." Over the centuries the sense drifted from weighing evidence toward looking closely at something in order to understand it, and eventually to simply inspecting or studying an object. The meaning of testing people, as in an exam, grew out of this same idea of closely weighing what someone knows.

Synonyms: inspect, analyze, study, review, scrutinize

Antonyms: ignore, overlook, disregard