verb · academic
investigate
UK/ɪnˈvɛstɪɡeɪt/US/ɪnˈvɛstəˌɡeɪt/in·VES·ti·gate
to carry out a detailed study or inquiry into something to discover facts or causes
Examples
“Scientists are investigating the causes of the disease.”
“The committee will investigate whether the funds were used properly.”
“Researchers investigated how sleep affects memory retention.”
Band 8 sentence
“The laboratory is investigating novel catalysts to improve energy efficiency.”
Collocations
- investigate a claim/incident/phenomenon
- conduct an investigation
Word family
Common mistakes
They investigate about the problem.→They investigate the problem.
He did an investigate on the case.→He did an investigation on the case.
Say it for a higher band
5look into→6examine→7+investigate
Synonyms
examine
research
Easily confused
research
“The team conducted research into sustainable farming techniques.”
Related words
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In Sublist 2
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