inspector

• inspectour (obsolete, rare)

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

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈspɛktə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈspɛktɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: in‧spec‧tor

inspector (plural inspectors)

1. A person employed to inspect something.
   • 2013 July 19, Peter Wilby, “Finland spreads word on schools”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 30:

     Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16. […] There are no inspectors, no exams until the age of 18, no school league tables, no private tuition industry, no school uniforms. […]

   • 2025 February 11, Jennifer Hansler, “USAID IG fired day after report critical of impacts of Trump administration’s dismantling of the agency”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     Martin had served as inspector general since December 2023. While President Donald Trump fired inspectors general from more than a dozen federal agencies during his first week in office, the USAID watchdog had remained in place.

2. (law enforcement) A police officer ranking below superintendent.
3. (computing) A software tool used to examine something.
   • 2011, Adam McDaniel, HTML5, page 166:

     Chrome has a built-in development tool called the Chrome Inspector. You can use it to examine the HTML elements in a web page; review what resources — or files, cookies, and databases — are active; follow network activity; […]

   • 2020, Anatoly Belous, Vitali Saladukha, Viruses, Hardware and Software Trojans, page 112:

     After that, with the help of the disk inspector, you can at any time compare the status of programs and system disk areas with the original one.

• → Japanese: インスペクター (insupekutā)

• inceptors, proincest

Borrowed from Latin īnspectōrem. First attested in 1803.^[1]

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ins.pəkˈto]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ins.pekˈtoɾ]

inspector m (plural inspectors, feminine inspectora, feminine plural inspectores)

1. inspector

• inspecció

• “inspector”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “inspector” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “inspector” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

From Latin īnspector.

• IPA^(key): /inspekˈtoɾ/ [ins̺.pekˈt̪oɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Hyphenation: ins‧pec‧tor

inspector m (plural inspectores, feminine inspectora, feminine plural inspectoras)

1. inspector

• “inspector”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025

From īnspicio +‎ -tor.

īnspector m (genitive īnspectōris); third declension

1. (post-Augustan) viewer, observer, onlooker
2. (Late Latin, Medieval Latin) inspector, examiner (especially one who inspects a household, monastery, etc)
3. (Medieval Latin) spy
4. (Medieval Latin, in divination) diviner

Third-declension noun.

īnspector

1. first-person singular present passive indicative of īnspectō

• “inspector”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• "inspector", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• inspector in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• inspector in Ramminger, Johann (16 July 2016 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[2], pre-publication website, 2005-2016

From Latin īnspector.

• Audio (Béarn):

  (file)

inspector m (plural inspectors, feminine inspectritz, feminine plural inspectrises)

1. inspector

• inspeccion

inspector (feminine inspectora, masculine plural inspectores, feminine plural inspectoras)

1. Pre-reform spelling (used until 1943 in Brazil and 1990 in Portugal) of inspetor. Still used in countries where the agreement hasn't come into effect; may occur as a sporadic misspelling.

inspector m (plural inspectores, feminine inspectora, feminine plural inspectoras)

1. Pre-reform spelling (used until 1943 in Brazil and 1990 in Portugal) of inspetor. Still used in countries where the agreement hasn't come into effect; may occur as a sporadic misspelling.

Borrowed from Latin inspector, probably through French inspecteur. Compare Russian инспе́ктор (inspéktor).

• IPA^(key): /inˈspek.tor/

inspector m (plural inspectori, feminine equivalent inspectoare)

1. inspector

   Synonym: (Transylvania) inspicient

• inspector-șef

• inspecta
• inspectare
• inspectiv
• inspectorat
• inspecție, inspecțiune

• revizor
• supraveghetor

• “inspector”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2025

From Latin īnspector.

• IPA^(key): /inspeɡˈtoɾ/ [ĩns.peɣ̞ˈt̪oɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: ins‧pec‧tor

inspector m (plural inspectores, feminine inspectora, feminine plural inspectoras)

1. inspector
   • 2025 June 28, Sean Lyngaas, “El cártel de Sinaloa rastreó con un hacker a un funcionario del FBI y mató a posibles informantes, según Gobierno de EE.UU.”, in CNN en Español‎^[3]:

     Un cártel de droga mexicano contrató a un hacker para vigilar los movimientos de un alto funcionario del FBI en Ciudad de México en 2018 o incluso antes, recopilando información del sistema de cámaras de la ciudad que permitió al cártel matar a posibles informantes del FBI, según dijo en un nuevo informe el inspector general del Departamento de Justicia.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• “inspector”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024