To carefully examine a situation, event, or person in order to discover the truth or gather facts.
From Latin *investigare* “to track, trace,” from *in-* “in” and *vestigium* “footprint, track.” It literally meant following footprints to find out what happened.
Investigating is intellectual detective work: you follow the “footprints” of clues until a hidden story appears. Good investigators don’t just look for evidence—they also look for what’s strangely missing.
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