Definition of inquire in English:
inquire
See synonyms for inquireTranslate inquire into Spanish
verb
(also British enquire)
1reporting verb Ask for information from someone.
no object ‘he inquired about cottages for sale’- ‘“How well do you know Berlin?” he inquired of Hencke’
- ‘I inquired where he lived’
- ‘The first of these inquired about the future of religiously informed scholarship.’
- ‘We also inquired about mobility and living circumstances to determine any association.’
- ‘It's the Congress' job to determine how candid she was with us as we inquired about this story.’
- ‘She inquired about me and was led to the back room where she saw that I was in pain and throwing up.’
- ‘Curious, I inquired about the reason for the abandonment of the ancestral position.’
- ‘Gently, she knelt down to the defeated man's level, and inquired about the money.’
- ‘When the aunt inquired about the reason for this change of heart, he narrated the entire incident.’
- ‘I was irritated, and almost inquired about what was so comical, but I held my tongue.’
- ‘However, since that one man inquired about his former maid, he felt a bit upset.’
- ‘Many of our readers have inquired about what to wear this season and which articles would get the most use.’
- ‘He and George inquired about a county seat and had found it twenty miles away.’
- ‘When he reached her, he quickly inquired about the wounds on her legs and arms.’
- ‘Bill inquired about the boat, which was in good condition but had been neglected.’
- ‘I rang at ten and politely inquired of the female who took the call where my taxi was.’
- ‘I have not inquired of colleagues whether they received the memorandum or whether they were on that mailing list.’
- ‘I fear he would have been aghast if I'd inquired of such trivial matters.’
- ‘Omar inquired of the deputation the cause of the frequent risings on part of the Persians.’
- ‘Like Schwab, it will give more information if the customer inquires.’
- ‘The informant said he inquired what would happen to the immigrants who could not come up with the money.’
- ‘For any further information inquire at your town hall.’
ask, make inquiries, ask questions, pose a question, request informationView synonyms- 1.1inquire afterno object Ask about the health and well-being of (someone)‘Annie inquired after her parents’
- ‘Greetings may be prolonged, for it is customary to inquire after a person's family, health, and work.’
- ‘The captain has sent me to inquire after the crew.’
- ‘Although she does inquire after Mrs. Thornley's life and specifically about Mr. Thornley, she pays only slight attention to what Mrs. Thornley says in her brief replies.’
- ‘Well, he does constantly inquire after your condition.’
- ‘For people who inquire after her, simply say, ‘Things are not good, but I appreciate your asking.’’
- ‘He slipped away and began to inquire after Wells, who still had yet to make an appearance.’
- ‘By the time Jeff declared he must leave, he had quite forgotten that he had originally come to inquire after Maggie.’
- ‘He opened his mouth to inquire after the innkeeper, but she appeared as though his thought had summoned her.’
- ‘He smiled remembering Matthews cornering him a day ago to inquire after Pamela.’
- ‘Our doctors were about to take leave when she began to inquire after his sister, whom he desired them to visit before their departure.’
- ‘‘Mr. Tremain,’ Mrs. Wellington asked as they waited for the food to be brought out, ‘might I inquire after your mother?’’
- ‘Dazed and bruised and embarrassed, I was grateful to the young folk who paused in their colourful flight homewards to inquire after my welfare.’
- ‘Esther does not inquire after her, Allan offers no information.’
- 1.2inquire forno object Ask to see or speak to (someone)‘that was Paul inquiring for you—I told him he couldn't come in’
- ‘Dorset discovered she was not the first to inquire for the young maiden and all the sudden attention was of great concern to the abbess.’
2inquire intono object Investigate; look into.
‘the task of political sociology is to inquire into the causes of political events’- ‘Nothing in this section expands or restricts the Secretary's authority to inquire into the disposition of any firearm in the course of a criminal investigation.’
- ‘I think it's also correct that when you appoint someone to the joint chiefs of staff, you shouldn't inquire into their personal beliefs.’
- ‘It is when you inquire into eating habits, not just recent but throughout entire lifetimes, that all this malnutrition begins to make sense.’
- ‘Only if they have already booked an illegal alien for a felony or for multiple misdemeanors may they inquire into his status or report him.’
- ‘But anyone writing a book on solutions to these problems would surely be expected to inquire into its roots.’
- ‘I guess what my dilemma boils down to is this: Is there any acceptable way for me to inquire into his personal life?’
- ‘One of the answers I got wrong suggested I should inquire into an applicant's ethnic background.’
- ‘If there is a relatively quick victory, no one will inquire into the justifications too closely.’
- ‘A general guide to use in selecting a financial planner is to inquire into the person's membership in the professional associations related to the financial planning vocation.’
- ‘Once these papers are received the provisional arrest continues and the Central Government then notifies a magistrate to inquire into the allegations of the borrower country.’
- ‘The Board requested staff to inquire into arranging a meeting with the Pharmacy Technician Educators Council during the Board's July meeting.’
- ‘Other respondents expressed the need to inquire into the social and cultural contexts in which people develop in order to understand how knowledge is constructed.’
- ‘But the succeeding governor, Franklin, appointed a board in 1839 to inquire into the conditions at the Flinders Island settlement.’
- ‘It would be not only unseemly but legally improper for the Court to inquire into an academic institution's self-defined educational mission.’
- ‘The reason some are saved and others are lost is beyond comprehension; it has to do with divine choice and that alone, and it is absurd to inquire into God's will.’
- ‘The commission appointed to inquire into the cause of riots also identified groups involved in the riots, but no effective action has been taken so far against the perpetrators.’
- ‘But there is no reference in the motion to the establishment of another tribunal to inquire into the international drug firms which produced the infected blood.’
- ‘She does not inquire into what makes banks special.’
- ‘The crown court is bound by an earlier high court ruling, in a case brought by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, that the English courts cannot inquire into the legality of a decision to go to war.’
- ‘That's what the Senate's going to inquire into.’
conduct an inquiry, make inquiries, probe, lookView synonyms
Pronunciation
Origin
Middle English enquere (later inquere), from Old French enquerre, from a variant of Latin inquirere, based on quaerere ‘seek’. The spelling with in-, influenced by Latin, dates from the 15th century.
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