probe
/pɹəʊb/US/pɹoʊb/
probe noun: any of various medical instruments used to explore wounds, organs, etc.
Noun
probe (plural probes)
- Any of various medical instruments used to explore wounds, organs, etc.
- An anal probe, a fictional instrument commonly used by aliens on abducted humans.
- You know, XR178.9, we haven't done any anal probes in a while.2004 August 2, Bayard Russell, nonemorecomic
- You listen here! We don't do anal probes like other aliens, but I'm about to make an exception!2009 September 14, Ryan Hudson, “Can I Abduct You?”, in ChannelATE
- An anal probe, a fictional instrument commonly used by aliens on abducted humans.
- Something which penetrates something else, as though to explore; something which obtains information.
- Silverberg also gives the reader reader some excellent character insight; deep probes into the minds of all the principals bring the reader closer to the persons involved than might be thought possible with the plot so far removed from the realm of normality.1973 August 4, J. Ralf Green, “The Hossenpfepper Column”, in Gay Community News, page 3
- An act of probing; a prod, a poke.
- An investigation or inquiry.
- They launched a probe into the cause of the accident.
- A tube attached to an aircraft which can be fitted into the drogue from a tanker aircraft to allow for aerial refuelling.
- A small device, especially an electrode, used to explore, investigate or measure something by penetrating or being placed in it.
- Insert the probe into the soil and read the temperature.
- A small, usually uncrewed, spacecraft used to acquire information or measurements about its surroundings.
- A move with multiple possible answers, seeking to make the opponent choose and commit to a strategy.
- Synonyms:
- yosu-miru
- Any group of atoms or molecules radioactively labeled in order to study a given molecule or other structure
Verb
probe (third-person singular simple present probes, present participle probing, simple past and past participle probed)
- To explore, investigate, question, test, or prove.
- If you probe further, you may discover different reasons.
- the growing disposition to probe the legality of all acts of the crown1827, Henry Hallam, The Constitutional History of England from the Accession of Henry VII. to the Death of George II. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: John Murray, […], →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- scope
- To insert a probe into.
Proper noun capitalized: Probe
Probe
- A model of Ford automobile.
probe meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
probe in Hindi
- to probe, plumb, scrutinize, search thoroughly
- खँगालना khaṅgālnā
probe in Tamil
- பரிசோதித்தல், விசாரணை, பரிசோதனை, மின் துலக்கி, குத்திச் சோதிக்கும் ஊசிக்கருவி, சோதனைக் கோல்
probe in Urdu
- چھان بین, تحقیق, چھان بین کرنا, تحقیق کرنا
probe in Bengali
- ক্ষতপরীক্ষার অস্ত্র, শঙ্কু, সূক্ষ্ম তদন্ত, শলা, কীল, রহস্যভেদ করা
More languagesFewer languages
- probe in Telugu
- ఏషణి ēṣaṇi
- probe in Malayalam
- അന്വേഷണം, സൂക്ഷ്മപരിശോധന, ആഴത്തിലുള്ള അന്വേഷണം, രൂപണം
- probe in Kannada
- ಆರಯ್ಕೆ, ಲೋಹದ ಕಡ್ಡಿ, ಶೋಧಕ, ಮೂತಿ
- probe in Sanskrit
- एषयति eṣayati
- probe in Arabic
- مِسْبَار misbār
- probe in Malay
- kuar
- probe in Vietnamese
- thăm dò
Examples of probe in a sentence
- The research probes whether treating pre-diabetes with metformin can prevent progression to frank diabetes.
- Some of these leptogenic models of supersymmetry could even be probed by the LHC.
- Only the better-off nations can afford to send probes into space.
Synonyms of probe
- yosu-miru
- scope
Forms of probe
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | probes |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | probes |
| present participle | probing |
| past participle | probed |
| past | probed |
Origin of probe
For verb: borrowed from Latin probare (“to test, examine, prove”), from probus (“good”). Doublet of prove. For noun: borrowed from Late Latin proba (“a proof”), from probare (“to test, examine, prove”); Doublet of proof. Compare Spanish tienta (“a surgeon's probe”), from tentar (“try, test”); see tempt.
Words formed from probe
- armed probe
- bioprobe
- Bracewell probe
- cryoprobe
- endoprobe
- fluoroprobe
- geoprobe
- immunoprobe
- lambda probe
- light probe
- microprobe
- milliprobe
- miniprobe
- misprobe
- multiprobe
- nanoprobe
- neutron probe
- oligoprobe
- photoprobe
- probeable
- probe-and-drogue
- probelike
- prober
- probe-scissors
- probeset
- pyroprobe
- radioprobe
- reflection probe
- reprobe
- riboprobe
- space probe
- thermoprobe
- thetaprobe
- von Neumann probe
- unprobed
Words that rhyme with probe
2 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about probe
- What does probe mean?
- Probe means any of various medical instruments used to explore wounds, organs, etc.
- What is probe in Hindi?
- Probe in Hindi is खँगालना (khaṅgālnā). See Probe meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is probe?
- Probe can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce probe?
- Probe is pronounced /pɹəʊb/ (UK).
- What is the plural of probe?
- The plural of probe is probes.
Words near probe in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: probe (page history and authors); Probe (page history and authors); खँगालना (Hindi) (page history and authors); probe (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); probe (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); probe (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); probe (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); probe (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); एषयति (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-probe.wav.
Cite this entry: “probe.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/probe. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.