scrutinize
verb
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Scrutinize This Word's Etymology
Scrutinize the history of scrutinize far back enough and you wind up sifting through trash: the word comes from Latin scrutari, which means "to search, to examine," and scrutari likely comes from scruta, meaning "trash," the etymology evoking one who searches through trash for anything of value. The noun scrutiny preceded scrutinize in English, and in its earliest 15th century use referred to a formal vote, and later to an official examination of votes. Scrutinize was established in the 17th century with its familiar "to examine closely" meaning, but retained reference to voting with the meaning "to examine votes" at least into the 18th century. And while the term scrutineer can be a general term referring to someone who examines something, it is also sometimes used specifically as a term for an election poll watcher.
Examples of scrutinize in a Sentence
Antonio Pequeño Iv, Forbes.com, 26 July 2025
The Department of Justice is going state by state to scrutinize how officials manage their voter rolls and remove ineligible voters.
—Erin Mansfield, USA Today, 26 July 2025
Meanwhile, Paramount is under fire for canceling The Late Show on the heels of the company’s $16M settlement with Trump, which has been scrutinized as potential bribery by some lawmakers.
—Glenn Garner, Deadline, 25 July 2025
Ahead of next week’s earnings reports for Meta, Apple, and Microsoft, analysts are continuing to scrutinize the pricing of these companies’ stocks, assessing if there are other options in the tech sector worth buying into.
—Sasha Rogelberg, Fortune, 25 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for scrutinize
Cite this Entry
“Scrutinize.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scrutinize. Accessed 29 Jul. 2025.
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scrutinize
verb
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