escudriñar

to scrutinise

verb ehs-koo-dree-NYAHR Rare

Origin: From Old Spanish escudriñar, from escudriño; related to Latin scrutinium (examination, scrutiny).

Also means

to examine closely

Usage Note

Escudriñar means to examine something very carefully and systematically — a face, a document, a horizon. It is a more literary and formal verb than examinar or mirar, and often implies searching for something hidden or hard to find. It is regular in conjugation despite the -ñ-: escudriño, escudriñas, etc.

Examples

"Escudriñó el horizonte en busca de señales."

Natural Translation

He scrutinised the horizon in search of signals.

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