SCRUTINISE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does scrutinise mean? 

• SCRUTINISE (verb)
  The verb SCRUTINISE has 2 senses:

1. to look at critically or searchingly, or in minute detail

2. examine carefully for accuracy with the intent of verification

  Familiarity information: SCRUTINISE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SCRUTINISE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they scrutinise    ... he / she / it scrutinises   
Past simple: scrutinised   
Past participle: scrutinised   
-ing form: scrutinising   

Sense 1

Meaning:

To look at critically or searchingly, or in minute detail

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Synonyms:

scrutinise; scrutinize; size up; take stock

Context example:

he scrutinized his likeness in the mirror

Hypernyms (to "scrutinise" is one way to...):

examine; see (observe, check out, and look over carefully or inspect)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

scrutiniser (a careful examiner; someone who inspects with great care)

scrutiny (the act of examining something closely (as for mistakes))

scrutiny (a prolonged intense look)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Examine carefully for accuracy with the intent of verification

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

audit; inspect; scrutinise; scrutinize

Context example:

audit accounts and tax returns

Hypernyms (to "scrutinise" is one way to...):

analyse; analyze; canvass; examine; study (consider in detail and subject to an analysis in order to discover essential features or meaning)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

scrutiniser (a careful examiner; someone who inspects with great care)

scrutiny (the act of examining something closely (as for mistakes))

scrutiny (a prolonged intense look)

 Context examples 

He looked at me keenly, and seeing the negative in my face, turned to the others, and scrutinised them closely.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Again she looked at me; and with the same scrutinising and conscious eye.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

He carefully scrutinised with his lens the talc shield which covered the top of the chimney and scraped off some ashes which adhered to its upper surface, putting some of them into an envelope, which he placed in his pocketbook.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He deliberately scrutinised each sketch and painting.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I, in my turn, scrutinised the paper; but saw nothing on it save a few dingy stains of paint where I had tried the tint in my pencil.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

He scrutinised the reverse of these living medals some five minutes, then pronounced sentence.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Mr. Brocklehurst and his family never came near Lowood now: household matters were not scrutinised into; the cross housekeeper was gone, driven away by the fear of infection; her successor, who had been matron at the Lowton Dispensary, unused to the ways of her new abode, provided with comparative liberality.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Turning from Bessie (though her presence was far less obnoxious to me than that of Abbot, for instance, would have been), I scrutinised the face of the gentleman: I knew him; it was Mr. Lloyd, an apothecary, sometimes called in by Mrs. Reed when the servants were ailing: for herself and the children she employed a physician.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Teachers, you must watch her: keep your eyes on her movements, weigh well her words, scrutinise her actions, punish her body to save her soul: if, indeed, such salvation be possible, for (my tongue falters while I tell it) this girl, this child, the native of a Christian land, worse than many a little heathen who says its prayers to Brahma and kneels before Juggernaut—this girl is—a liar!

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

It may hate him who dares to scrutinise and expose—to rase the gilding, and show base metal under it—to penetrate the sepulchre, and reveal charnel relics: but hate as it will, it is indebted to him.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)