probe
Plural: probes
Noun
- an inquiry into unfamiliar or questionable activities
- "there was a congressional probe into the scandal"
- a flexible slender surgical instrument with a blunt end that is used to explore wounds or body cavities
- an exploratory action or expedition
- an investigation conducted using a flexible surgical instrument to explore an injury or a body cavity
- Any of various medical instruments used to explore wounds, organs, etc.
- Any of various medical instruments used to explore wounds, organs, etc.
- An anal probe, a fictional instrument commonly used by aliens on abducted humans.
- Something which penetrates something else, as though to explore; something which obtains information.
- An act of probing; a prod, a poke.
- An investigation or inquiry.
- A tube attached to an aircraft which can be fitted into the drogue from a tanker aircraft to allow for aerial refuelling.
- A small device, especially an electrode, used to explore, investigate or measure something by penetrating or being placed in it.
- A small, usually uncrewed, spacecraft used to acquire information or measurements about its surroundings.
- A move with multiple possible answers, seeking to make the opponent choose and commit to a strategy.
- Any group of atoms or molecules radioactively labeled in order to study a given molecule or other structure
Verb
Verb Forms: probed, probing, probes
- To investigate or examine thoroughly.
- question or examine thoroughly and closely
- examine physically with or as if with a probe
- "probe an anthill"
- To explore, investigate, question, test, or prove.
- To insert a probe into.
Examples
- I watched my opponent closely, trying to probe their rack by analyzing their last move.
- If you probe further, you may discover different reasons.
- Insert the probe into the soil and read the temperature.
- They launched a probe into the cause of the accident.
Origin / Etymology
For verb: borrowed from Latin probare (“to test, examine, prove”), from probus (“good”). Doublet of prove.
For noun: borrowed from Late Latin proba (“a proof”), from probare (“to test, examine, prove”); Doublet of proof. Compare Spanish tienta (“a surgeon's probe”), from tentar (“try, test”); see tempt.
Synonyms
dig into, examine, investigation, poke into, yosu-miru
Scrabble Score: 9
probe: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordprobe: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
probe: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary