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scrutinize

/ˈskruːtənaɪz//ˈskruːtənaɪz/·verb
to examine something very closely and critically
Fig. 1 — A lens travels along four lines of text at a steady working clip, carrying its own little pool of light.
01Definition

To scrutinize is to look hard — to inspect something minutely, searching for flaws, errors, or hidden details. Auditors scrutinize accounts; referees scrutinize replays; voters scrutinize candidates' records. The word implies both closeness and skepticism: you don't scrutinize things you trust completely. Its ancestor, the Latin scrutari, meant to rummage through rubbish — the original scrutineers searched even the trash.

02In use
  • iAuditors spent weeks scrutinizing the accounts, pausing to calibrate each model against any anomaly the software might have missed.
  • iiBoth legal teams scrutinized every clause of the contract, alert to anything ambiguous.
  • iiiPublic figures must accept that their probity will be scrutinized, every past statement weighed.
03Collocations
  • closely scrutinized
  • under close scrutiny
  • subject to scrutiny
  • scrutinize the accounts

Family scrutiny (noun) · scrutineer (noun)

04Relations

=examine, inspect, analyze, probe, study

≠overlook, skim, ignore

06TOEFL & IELTS

Appears across TOEFL/IELTS reading in contexts of oversight and review — scientific findings, government spending, historical documents all get 'scrutinized'. The noun 'scrutiny' may be even more common: 'under (close) scrutiny' and 'subject to scrutiny' are set phrases worth learning. British spelling is the same; IELTS may also use 'scrutinise'.

07Asked
Is it spelled 'scrutinize' or 'scrutinise'?
Both are correct — scrutinize is standard in American English, scrutinise in British, following the general -ize/-ise divide (organize/organise, realize/realise). Oxford style even prefers -ize in Britain, so scrutinize is never wrong. For IELTS, pick one convention and stay consistent across the whole piece; examiners mark the inconsistency, not the choice.
What is the difference between scrutinize, examine and inspect?
They climb in intensity. Examine is the neutral base — look at carefully. Inspect adds a hunt for faults — an inspector checks for what is wrong. Scrutinize is the most intense and the most skeptical: minute, distrustful attention, the look you give what you do not fully believe. The scene above is scrutiny, not mere examination — the lens travels on, then turns back to blow one flaw up huge.
What does 'under scrutiny' mean?
Being closely and often critically watched — a policy under scrutiny is being examined for flaws, usually in public. The noun scrutiny may be commoner than the verb, and it lives in set phrases: under close scrutiny, subject to scrutiny, stand up to scrutiny. That last one is the exam-writer's favourite: a claim that stands up to scrutiny survives hard, hostile checking.
Where does 'scrutinize' come from?
From Latin scrutari, 'to search' — and its literal sense was to rummage through rubbish, from scruta, 'trash'. The original scrutineer was a rag-picker sifting the discard heap for anything of value. The word keeps that flavour of searching where others would not bother to look, which is why scrutiny implies not just attention but suspicion that something is hidden.