interrogation
Americannoun
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the act of interrogating; questioning.
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an instance of being interrogated.
He seemed shaken after his interrogation.
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a question; inquiry.
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a written list of questions.
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an interrogation point; question mark.
noun
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the technique, practice, or an instance of interrogating
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a question or query
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telecomm the transmission of one or more triggering pulses to a transponder
Other Word Forms
- interrogational adjective
- reinterrogation noun
- self-interrogation noun
Etymology
Origin of interrogation
1350–1400; Middle English interrogacio ( u ) n < Latin interrogātiōn- (stem of interrogātiō ). See interrogate, -ion
Explanation
An interrogation is a question or an intense questioning session. Police do interrogations of suspects all the time. Have you ever heard someone say, "What is this? An interrogation?" People say that when they feel like they're being questioned a little too much. An interrogation can mean a single question or a series of questions. Police stations usually have interrogation rooms for questioning suspects. When someone is doing an interrogation, they're looking for answers, and it's usually about something very serious.
Vocabulary lists containing interrogation
Speak
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Ungifted
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Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But Judge Quraishi instead turned it into an interrogation of some legally questionable maneuvers by the New Jersey U.S.
From Slate • Mar. 20, 2026
But upon closer interrogation, the whole thing gave me the willies.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 14, 2026
An interrogation nearly identical to that description plays out in last year’s Oscar-nominated film “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” by Mohammad Rasoulof, one of Panahi’s longtime collaborators.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 6, 2026
The U.S. discovered that in 2003, when a team of almost two dozen agents who had abducted an Egyptian cleric in Italy for secret interrogation was outed by analysis of their local cellphone records.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 12, 2025
I hadn’t really thought about what it would mean to have to walk through that interrogation room it is attached to—
From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
