inspect

• enspect (rare)

From Latin inspectum, past participle of inspicere (“to look into”), from in (“in”) + specere (“to look at”), equivalent to in- +‎ -spect.

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈspɛkt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛkt

inspect (third-person singular simple present inspects, present participle inspecting, simple past and past participle inspected)

1. To examine critically or carefully; especially, to search out problems or determine condition; to scrutinize.

   Inspect the system for leaks.

2. To observe the status or nature of an object beyond what is found obvious upon its initial presentation; to 'view within' the object.

   After speaking with the building owner, hearing that the building's steam pipes were over eighty years old, and noticing areas where the pipes had been patched with duct tape, we decided to thoroughly inspect the system for leaks.

   After talking with and observing his new patient for a few minutes, the doctor began to inspect his charge by means of a formal physical examination.

3. To view and examine officially.

   The general inspected the troops and their barracks.

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 6, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     ‘ […] I remember a lady coming to inspect St. Mary's Home where I was brought up and seeing us all in our lovely Elizabethan uniforms we were so proud of, and bursting into tears all over us because “it was wicked to dress us like charity children”. […]’.

• (to examine critically or carefully): See Thesaurus:examine

• incepts, pectins, peincts