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Literary notes about Investigate (AI summary)

In literature, "investigate" is employed in a variety of ways that reflect both literal and metaphorical quests for truth and understanding. It often denotes a methodical inquiry into mysteries or crimes, as seen in detective narratives where characters seek to uncover hidden truths [1][2][3]. At the same time, the word carries an abstract, philosophical weight in works that examine the nature of experience or morality, inviting readers to probe the deeper significance of phenomena [4][5][6]. Whether the inquiry is physical, as in a search for factual evidence, or mental, as in a meditation on ideas, the term underscores a persistent human desire to unravel complexities and grasp the essence of things [7][8][9].
  1. We had gone to investigate a murder case and had found the body frozen stiff.
    — from Criminal Psychology: A Manual for Judges, Practitioners, and Students by Hans Gross
  2. “ Messieurs, mesdames , as you all know, I was called in by Monsieur John Cavendish to investigate this case.
    — from The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
  3. He put on his hat and walked quickly down the garden, determined to investigate the matter to the very bottom.
    — from The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens
  4. Led by French scientists of the Sorbonne, Western thinkers are beginning to investigate the possibility of divine perception in man.
    — from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda
  5. If I wish to investigate the properties of a thinking being, I must interrogate experience.
    — from The Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant
  6. We shall now proceed to investigate the sources of all these attempts of reason to establish the existence of a Supreme Being.
    — from The Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant
  7. “The thing is worth looking into, and I will take pains to investigate the matter thoroughly.”
    — from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet
  8. In addition, it is frequently necessary to investigate the connotation people like to give certain words, otherwise misunderstandings are inevitable.
    — from Criminal Psychology: A Manual for Judges, Practitioners, and Students by Hans Gross
  9. Was it worth while to investigate, to ascertain the facts, to waste time over anyone like Svidrigaïlov?
    — from Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

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