Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To observe carefully or critically; inspect.
  • transitive verb To study or analyze.
  • transitive verb To test or check the condition or health of.
  • transitive verb To determine the qualifications, aptitude, or skills of by means of questions or exercises.
  • transitive verb To question formally, as to elicit facts or information; interrogate: synonym: ask.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To inspect or survey carefully; look into the state of; scrutinize and compare the parts of; view or observe in all aspects and relations, with the purpose of forming a correct opinion or judgment: as, to examine a ship (to learn whether she is sea-worthy); to examine a composition (for the purpose of correcting its errors).
  • To subject to legal inquisition; put to question in regard to conduct or to knowledge of facts; interrogate: as, to examine a witness or a suspected or accused person.
  • To inquire into the qualifications, capabilities, or progress of, by interrogatories: as, to examine the candidates for a degree, or for a license to practise in a profession; to examine applicants for office or employment.
  • To try or assay by appropriate methods or tests: as, to examine minerals or chemical compounds.
  • To interrogate, catechize.
  • noun Examination.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To test by any appropriate method; to inspect carefully with a view to discover the real character or state of; to subject to inquiry or inspection of particulars for the purpose of obtaining a fuller insight into the subject of examination, as a material substance, a fact, a reason, a cause, the truth of a statement; to inquire or search into; to explore
  • transitive verb To interrogate as in a judicial proceeding; to try or test by question

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To observe or inspect carefully or critically.
  • verb To check the health or condition of something or someone.
  • verb To determine the aptitude, skills or qualifications of someone by subjecting them to an examination.
  • verb To interrogate.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb question closely
  • verb consider in detail and subject to an analysis in order to discover essential features or meaning
  • verb put to the test, as for its quality, or give experimental use to
  • verb observe, check out, and look over carefully or inspect
  • verb question or examine thoroughly and closely

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English examinen, from Old French examiner, from Latin exāmināre, from exāmen, a weighing out, from exigere, to weigh out; see exact.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French examiner, from Latin examinare.

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Examples

  • One issue the panel will examine is whether the blindside head shots should be eliminated through a penalty, supplemental discipline or both.

    NHL looks to curb head shots 2009

  • What General Powell will never be able to examine is how much of the Third World's economic weakness and unrepresentative governance is the result of earlier colonial periods and the policies of exploitation and repression practiced by the Western powers.

    Letters to the Editor 2004

  • What General Powell will never be able to examine is how much of the Third World's economic weakness and unrepresentative governance is the result of earlier colonial periods and the policies of exploitation and repression practiced by the Western powers.

    Letters to the Editor 2004

  • The first point we have to examine is the impact of the penalty provision in the Canada Health Act. The Ontario Government claims that the federal government is forcing it to ban extra-billing or face the loss of $54 million a year.

    Building the New Ontario 1986

  • Now let us examine from the Canadian point of view the international situation as it really is.

    The Price of Peace 1968

  • There are several convenient features like the ability to automatically mark the older of the two duplicate files as the one that will be deleted or moved, protection of system and program files, and a shortcut to immediately jump to the actual folder where a duplicate you’d like to examine is residing.

    Fast Duplicate File Finder Finds Your File Dupes | Lifehacker Australia 2009

  • Now, getting Republicans to self-examine is even harder than with Democrats, but it’s worth the effort, if only to do some damage to that party.

    House Judiciary Panel Hearings on ‘Imperial Presidency’ « Antiwar.com Blog 2008

  • I like to use my middles to ramp up the emotional punch of a story, so the things I choose to do here will often make my protag examine aspects of her life or beliefs.

    I Love it When a Plan Comes Together, Part One Janice Hardy 2010

  • For on the one hand it may be urged that as the ultimate species represent the real existences, it will be well, if practicable, to examine these ultimate species separately, just as we examine the species Man separately; to examine, that is, not the whole class Birds collectively, but the Ostrich, the Crane, and the other indivisible groups or species belonging to the class.

    On the Parts of Animals 2002

  • So that of necessity, as we referred to before, this contest procedure involves the presentation of witnesses and evidence and the right to cross-examine, which is a basic of the process, and it can stretch on to the point where it may not resolve itself prior to December 12.

    CNN Transcript - CNN Late Edition: When Will America Know Who its Next President Will Be? - December 4, 2000 2000

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