interrogation
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
the act of asking someone many questions for a long time, usually to get information or a confession.
the formal and systematic questioning of a suspect or witness, often conducted under pressure or in a legal context.
Simple“The suspect was taken to the police station for a long interrogation.”
In context“After six hours of intense interrogation, the detective finally managed to uncover the inconsistencies in the witness's original statement.”
UsageOften used with the verbs 'conduct', 'undergo', or 'subject to'.
Synonyms - 02 C2 Proficiency
an old word for a question mark.
a punctuation mark used at the end of a sentence to indicate a question.
Simple“In the old manuscript, every question ended with a strange interrogation.”
In context“The scribe had placed a formal interrogation at the end of the sentence to ensure the reader understood the rising intonation required.”
Teacher's tipThis sense is archaic; modern speakers and writers exclusively use 'question mark'.
Synonymsquestion mark
“You’d be in a room with a one-way mirror, like an interrogation room.”
From Middle English interrogacion, from Old French interrogacion, from Latin interrogātiō, from interrogō, from inter- (“between; among”) + rogō (“to ask; to request”). Equivalent to inter- + rogation or interrogate + -ion.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.