What does investigator mean?
Word: Investigator
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Investigator means a person who carefully studies the facts of an event or a problem to find out the truth.
Synonyms: examiner, inspector
How do you spell investigator?
Syllables: in - ves - ti - ga - tor
Tricky part: The ending is -or, not -er: an investigator, like a narrator, is a person who does something.
Watch out for: investigater, investigatter, investigatar
Memory tip: Many -ate verbs make a person noun with -or: narrate, narrator; educate, educator; and the same pattern gives investigator.
Investigator in a sentence
Example 1: The investigator found that a blocked drain had flooded the school playground.
Example 2: An investigator from the electricity board checked why the street lights kept failing.
Example 3: My sister wants to be a wildlife investigator and study how tigers move through the forest.
Fun Fact
The word goes back to a Latin verb meaning to track or trace, which comes from the Latin word for a footprint: an investigator was first pictured as someone following tracks.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word investigator as used in the sentence:
The investigator spent a week talking to farmers to learn why the crops had failed.
a) supplier
b) researcher
c) visitor
d) organiser
Show answer
b) researcher. Someone who studies the facts to learn the cause of a problem is a researcher.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
After the pond turned green, an invistigator from the water board collected samples from six villages and tested them in a laboratory.
a) pond
b) invistigator
c) laboratory
d) samples
Show answer
b) invistigator. The verb is investigate, with ves at the front, not vis.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters in the sentence to form a meaningful word:
The vigaenrttsio spent the afternoon measuring the cracks in the old bridge.
a) navigator
b) instigator
c) invigilator
d) investigator
Show answer
d) investigator. Invigilator needs an l, instigator has no v, and navigator has no s or second i.
Spell-o-Spell
Only one of these words is spelt correctly. Choose the meaning of that word:
1. scientest 2. librarien 3. investigator 4. geografer
a) an expert in a branch of science
b) someone who looks into facts to learn the truth
c) an expert on the lands and peoples of the earth
d) a person in charge of a library
Show answer
b) someone who looks into facts to learn the truth. Scientest has e for i, geografer writes f for ph and librarien has e for a.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. An investigator's main job is to ____.
a) gather facts and find the cause
b) teach a class of young pupils
c) sell goods to busy shoppers
d) draw plans for new buildings
Show answer
a) gather facts and find the cause
2. An investigator sent to a factory after a machine broke down would most likely ____.
a) repaint the walls of the factory
b) ask questions and study the machine
c) give all the workers a holiday
d) buy a brand-new machine at once
Show answer
b) ask questions and study the machine
