scan
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To examine sequentially, carefully.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
skanIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈskæn
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.
verb
transitive
To examine sequentially, carefully, or critically; to scrutinize; to behold closely.
Examine hastily
“She scanned the newspaper headlines while waiting for the taxi.”
computingtransitive
To inspect, analyse or go over, often to find something.
transitive
To look about for; to look over quickly.
noun
A close investigation.
Of written things, a cursory reading: a skim.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Varies by meaning
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To examine sequentially, carefully, or critically; to scrutinize; to behold closely.
Used this way, scan is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It quietly approves while staying precise.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Gentle
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Careful and exacting
- Usage feel
- Precise and approving
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use scan
- “He made a thorough scan of the beach with his binoculars.”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.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Someone who scans verse to determine the number and prosodic value of the syllables.
The process of translating photographs into a digital form that can be recognized by a computer.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A type of passive matrix display in which the top and bottom half of the screen are refreshed simultaneously.
A tomograph that constructs a 3-D model of an object by combining parallel planes.
An electronic device that generates a digital representation of an image for data input to a computer.
A tomograph that produces cross-sectional X-rays of metabolic processes in the body.
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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.