inspection
noun
Simple meaning
Examining something, often closely.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ihnspehkshuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɪnsˈpɛkʃən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The act of examining something, often closely.
An organization that checks that certain laws or rules are obeyed.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The act of examining something, often closely.
Used this way, inspection is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use inspection
- “Upon closer inspection, the animal turned out to be a dolphin, not a shark!”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Periodic maintenance on a car or machine.
The primary law enforcement arm of the United States Postal Service.
The primary law enforcement arm of the United States Postal Service.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: examining something or often closely
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Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.