# scrutiny

Pronunciation: US say "SKROO-ti-nee" /ˈskɹuː.tɪ.ni/; UK

## Noun

1. Careful and thorough examination of a situation or case.
   - Simple: A careful, close look at something to check it for problems.
   - _The proposed merger faced intense scrutiny from financial regulators._
   - _Her travel expenses came under scrutiny during the year-end audit._
2. Close, intense study directed at a person or thing.
   - Simple: Watching or studying someone or something very closely.
   - _The celebrity lives under constant scrutiny from the press._
   - _His every decision was subject to scrutiny by the board._
3. A committee's examination of the votes cast at an election, carried out to correct the poll.
   - Simple: A check of an election's votes by a group of people, done to fix mistakes in the count.
   - _The defeated candidate demanded a scrutiny of the disputed ballots._
   - _Parliament ordered a scrutiny to settle the contested result._
4. A small slip or billet of paper on which a vote is written.
   - Simple: A small piece of paper that a person writes a vote on.
   - _Each voter folded his scrutiny and dropped it into the urn._
   - _The teller collected every scrutiny before reading the votes aloud._
5. A church examination of people preparing for baptism, held in the last week of Lent before their baptism on Easter Day.
   - Simple: A church test for people getting ready for baptism, held just before Easter.
   - _The priest conducted the scrutiny of the candidates in the week before Easter._
   - _Each catechumen passed a scrutiny during the final week of Lent._

## Verb

6. To examine and inspect something closely and carefully. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To look at something very closely and carefully to check it.
   - _The auditors were appointed to scrutiny the treasury's records._
   - _Learned men gathered to scrutiny the disputed text line by line._

## Origin

It comes from Middle English scrutiny, from Medieval Latin scrūtinium ('a search, an inquiry'), which traces back through Vulgar Latin scrūtor ('to search or examine thoroughly') and Late Latin scrūta ('rubbish, broken trash'), ultimately from an extension of the Proto-Indo-European root *(s)ker- ('to cut').

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