# inspector

Pronunciation: US say "in-SPEK-ter" /ɪnˈspɛktɚ/; UK say "in-SPEK-tuh" /ɪnˈspɛktə/

## Noun

1. Someone employed to inspect things, examining them carefully as part of the job.
   - Simple: A person whose job is to check things carefully.
   - _A building inspector must approve the wiring before the walls can be closed up._
   - _School inspectors arrived unannounced and sat in on three classes._
2. In many police forces, an officer holding a rank above sergeant and below superintendent.
   - Simple: A police officer whose rank is lower than a superintendent's.
   - _After twelve years on the force, she was promoted to inspector and given command of a team of sergeants._
   - _The inspector reported to the superintendent each morning before briefing the detectives._
3. A software tool for examining something, such as the elements of a web page or the contents of a disk.
   - Simple: A computer program that lets you look closely at something, such as the code of a web page.
   - _The developer used the browser's inspector to find which style rule was hiding the button._
   - _The disk inspector flagged two system files that had changed since the last scan._

## Origin

Borrowed from Latin īnspector, from īnspiciō; it is equivalent to inspect + -or.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/inspector (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).