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What is "scrutiny"

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scrutiny
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
scrutiny
noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
close scrutiny (=careful and thorough examination of someone or something)
▪ The investigation included close scrutiny of the images on CCTV.
intense scrutiny (=being examined very carefully)
▪ The mining industry is coming under intense scrutiny over its environmental record.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
careful
▪ Each process had to undergo careful scrutiny by the Environmental Health Department, and the cooks had to pass medical tests.
▪ Incidentally, that experiment is now also under careful scrutiny in Professor Krauss's laboratory.
▪ I have done that after the most careful scrutiny.
▪ Such figures as we have need careful scrutiny, because they rarely take account of those who came back.
▪ Efforts to stain paper artificially to give an appearance of age have little hope of withstanding careful scrutiny.
▪ Since these behavioural data are so crucial to interpreting the physiological findings they will repay careful scrutiny.
close
▪ Abie did not bother to make a closer scrutiny.
▪ Spying is a tricky business, not a subject suitable for close public scrutiny.
▪ Other popular myths also fail to withstand close scrutiny.
▪ Federal Trade Commission officials would not comment on the deal, but are expected by industry experts to give it close scrutiny.
▪ From close scrutiny, it soon emerges that they all have several features in common.
▪ She said the elections department is under close scrutiny now.
▪ Nelson's detailed account is well worth close scrutiny for it illustrates many aspects of socio-ecology most cogently.
▪ A close scrutiny of films showing lions killing zebras does not bear this out.
critical
▪ Marxist theory, in particular, has been subjected to an intense critical scrutiny, from which it has emerged considerably changed.
▪ It can therefore pay to subject your verbal presentation to some extremely critical scrutiny before it reaches its final destination.
detailed
▪ The most original observations in the book result from this detailed scrutiny.
▪ After the closest and most detailed scrutiny, I am absolutely persuaded that that will be achieved.
▪ Land ownership and the life of indigenous communities is also receiving detailed scrutiny.
▪ Dicey's views on the rule of law also merit detailed scrutiny.
▪ Although we welcome the Bill, we shall subject it to detailed scrutiny in Committee.
great
▪ Although, as money runs out, the cost-effectiveness of non-traditional classes comes under greater scrutiny.
▪ The leap has left him and his performance under great scrutiny.
intense
▪ Far from privileging authorial discourse, such writing submits the figure of the author and his/her subjectivity to intense scrutiny.
▪ Ventresca was under intense scrutiny regarding his qualifications for the job.
▪ His intense scrutiny took in the shadowy and empty lengths of the corridor.
▪ But they have toiled all season under the pressure of intense public scrutiny and the weight of great expectations.
▪ It's been a tough and bruising campaign, with the backgrounds of both candidates coming under intense scrutiny.
▪ Its investment methods and specific investment assumptions will be held up to intense public scrutiny.
▪ Marxist theory, in particular, has been subjected to an intense critical scrutiny, from which it has emerged considerably changed.
▪ Mr Barry has been under intense scrutiny ever since.
judicial
▪ This is judicial scrutiny and the power of the courts to regulate telephone-tapping and to deal with illegal or improper conduct.
▪ Those classifications would be free from exacting judicial scrutiny.
▪ Congress no longer can choose Supreme Court nominees -- a cozy practice that helped shield legislators from judicial scrutiny.
open
▪ A: Our findings will be open to scrutiny from any recognised scientific institution that may be interested.
▪ Rather, it should be acknowledged and, in so doing, be open to scrutiny and accountability.
▪ Child society was thrown open to public scrutiny by the detachment of so many children from their family of birth.
▪ He wondered why, when other wartime files have long been open to scrutiny.
parliamentary
▪ Nevertheless, it is still open to question whether these arrangements are an adequate substitute for parliamentary scrutiny.
▪ It reformed the judicial system, buttressing its independence, and introduced parliamentary scrutiny of important public sector contracts and appointments.
▪ They are not subject to Parliamentary scrutiny.
▪ There is still a key opportunity for local authorities to learn the lessons from the national parliamentary mechanisms for scrutiny and accountability.
▪ Lord Young replies the same day, discussing in detail how to avoid parliamentary and commission scrutiny.
public
▪ Conclusion Somehow, a stronger system of checks and balances and of public scrutiny in order to ensure greater objectivity must be established.
▪ It will open up county government for more public scrutiny, always a good thing.
▪ As government expenditures have grown, the objectives and results of such programmes have come under increased public scrutiny.
▪ Some restaurants and bars near local and national government centers say public scrutiny is killing business.
▪ Most, however, felt that such practices were not topics to be made available for public scrutiny.
▪ As a result, local economic development tends to remove significant actions of local government from public scrutiny.
▪ Child society was thrown open to public scrutiny by the detachment of so many children from their family of birth.
▪ Like anyone who has lived most of his life in relative obscurity, Payne remains uncomfortable with public scrutiny.
strict
▪ But Justice hesitated; it had never before asked any federal court to hold gender-based classification to the strict scrutiny standard.
▪ Rationing of foods became stricter and police scrutiny tighter.
▪ H-4 must needs submit to a new trial, under stricter scrutiny.
■ VERB
avoid
▪ Lord Young replies the same day, discussing in detail how to avoid parliamentary and commission scrutiny.
▪ Such organizations manage to avoid democratic scrutiny almost entirely.
bear
▪ I had a feeling that his logic would not bear close scrutiny but was too numb to argue with the ancient greenkeeper.
▪ The material did not bear scrutiny.
▪ Yet the argument that Hong Kong could learn from Macau in safeguarding its interests bears little scrutiny.
▪ Numerically, it was an impressive record but it did not bear too much scrutiny.
▪ A world that would be liked by contemporary people which do not always bear scrutiny.
▪ Such a solution does not bear a close scrutiny.
▪ His relationship background didn't bear scrutiny either, having virtually abandoned his first wife and three other children.
come
▪ This was a tumultuous time, when many public figures came under political scrutiny.
▪ Law, love and trust all come under scrutiny by protagonist Frank August.
▪ So long as selection policies did not come under scrutiny this was acceptable.
▪ The question of his family would come under closer scrutiny.
▪ It's been a tough and bruising campaign, with the backgrounds of both candidates coming under intense scrutiny.
▪ He said the company came under scrutiny along with other insurers after allegations were first made against Metropolitan Life in 1993.
▪ Blood pressure, cholesterol levels, height and weight, exercise and lifestyle all come under close scrutiny.
▪ The human capacity for love comes under especially close scrutiny.
face
▪ The offer will face scrutiny under competition rules.
▪ The deal also faces regulatory scrutiny amid concerns about the increased dominance of a handful of companies controlling access to the internet.
give
▪ Only when a firm is put into play or bid for is the management's performance given any scrutiny.
▪ The potential concentration of those activities might also prompt antitrust regulators to give any merger close scrutiny, Threlfall said.
▪ Federal Trade Commission officials would not comment on the deal, but are expected by industry experts to give it close scrutiny.
increase
▪ As we shall see later, the economic performance of the Magnox reactors has also come under increasing scrutiny.
▪ The board took steps Friday to increase scrutiny of purchasing and construction contracts.
receive
▪ Land ownership and the life of indigenous communities is also receiving detailed scrutiny.
stand
▪ Their attitude scarcely stands up to scrutiny.
▪ However, they do not stand up to scrutiny.
▪ Indeed the habits of our civilised forebears at work and play would not always stand up to the scrutiny of the modern conscience.
▪ The idea may not stand too much scrutiny, but it has charm.
▪ How does it stand up to this scrutiny?
▪ Fortunately, it stands up to scrutiny.
▪ It is as well that such arguments do not stand up to serious scrutiny.
subject
▪ Bringing these out in the open and subjecting them to scrutiny and analysis will yield fruitful results.
▪ The monarchists and conservatives claimed that all national and public figures and their acts should always be subject to scrutiny and criticism.
▪ Nothing is taken for granted, everything at every period is subjected to searching scrutiny.
▪ All bibliographical information provided by suppliers to libraries should be subjected to close scrutiny.
▪ It is a disgrace that Government Departments are not subjected to the same scrutiny and punishments.
▪ The design of each of the new qualifications is currently being subjected to intensive scrutiny and consultation.
▪ However, it is clear from these three papers that the Continental traditions themselves need to be subjected to feminist scrutiny.
▪ It means only that ideas both given and new will be subjected to scrutiny and not simply accepted on trust.
survive
▪ In my time you even had to survive Hansen's unofficial scrutiny before you made it to the first team.
▪ True, most of these beliefs contain grains of truth, but their omnipotent power does not survive close scrutiny.
▪ It is because their hybrids do not survive the scrutiny of natural selection.
▪ Moreover, these traditional wisdoms of family life do not survive modern scrutiny.
undergo
▪ Now the pervasive influence of irrational forces, incongruous in a profession which prizes objective judgment, is to undergo scientific scrutiny.
▪ Lawyers must be prepared to undergo scrutiny and be held accountable for whatever they do.
▪ Each process had to undergo careful scrutiny by the Environmental Health Department, and the cooks had to pass medical tests.
▪ We urge that all commercially marketed aids to stopping smoking should undergo the same regulatory scrutiny.
▪ Accordingly, the process by which meta-analyses are carried out has undergone scrutiny.
▪ We have recently undergone a hygiene scrutiny by a member of our Health and Safety Department at head office.
withstand
▪ Other popular myths also fail to withstand close scrutiny.
▪ None of that would matter much if the material could withstand the scrutiny.
▪ Efforts to stain paper artificially to give an appearance of age have little hope of withstanding careful scrutiny.
▪ Dogmas that could not withstand scrutiny withered, while those that accommodated observations and questioning prospered.
▪ But neither he nor his flat tax could withstand the media scrutiny and attacks from Dole and much of the Republican establishment.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
come in for criticism/blame/scrutiny
▪ Thompson came in for sharp criticism from women's groups.
▪ Mr Gonzalez has also come in for criticism from within his own party.
▪ NTOs have come in for criticism for failing to make significant strides in plugging the skills gap.
▪ The Belfry came in for criticism with some newspapers saying it was no place to stage a match of this importance.
▪ The Court of Appeal has struggled to reconcile the two decisions but has come in for criticism.
▪ The patient's colour, face and body features as well as pulse and tongue will also come in for scrutiny.
come under attack/fire/scrutiny etc
▪ At a deeper level, however, the concept of the mentally abnormal female offender has come under scrutiny.
▪ He added that to be accurate, the aircraft would have to risk coming under fire.
▪ He said the company came under scrutiny along with other insurers after allegations were first made against Metropolitan Life in 1993.
▪ In addition to facing the ire of frustrated riders, Muni has also come under fire recently from federal safety officials.
▪ Patrick is generally regarded as having been an aggressive enforcer of civil-rights laws and often came under fire from conservatives.
▪ Police came under attack from bottles, bricks and plastic crates.
▪ Sir Derek came under fire from several shareholders.
▪ Their vehicle came under fire but was not hit.
the glare of publicity/the media/public scrutiny etc
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Airlines have increased their scrutiny of the size and amount of carry-on luggage.
▪ Closer scrutiny of the document revealed a number of interesting facts.
▪ Once you become famous your private life comes under public scrutiny.
▪ The city's elections department has been under scrutiny since last year.
▪ The company's plans for expansion have attracted scrutiny from consumer groups.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Depressingly, the Labour party managed to run an entire campaign without exposing its candidate to genuine scrutiny at public meetings.
▪ Like anyone who has lived most of his life in relative obscurity, Payne remains uncomfortable with public scrutiny.
▪ More often auctions are not reviewed; this is a pity, since the management of markets in art deserves scrutiny.
▪ She said the elections department is under close scrutiny now.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Scrutiny

Scrutiny \Scru"ti*ny\, n. [L. scrutinium, fr. scrutari to search carefully, originally, to search even to the rags, fr. scruta trash, trumpery; perhaps akin to E. shred: cf. AS. scrudnian to make scrutiny.]

  1. Close examination; minute inspection; critical observation.

    They that have designed exactness and deep scrutiny have taken some one part of nature.
    --Sir M. Hale.

    Thenceforth I thought thee worth my nearer view And narrower scrutiny.
    --Milton.

  2. (Anc. Church) An examination of catechumens, in the last week of Lent, who were to receive baptism on Easter Day.

  3. (Canon Law) A ticket, or little paper billet, on which a vote is written.

  4. (Parliamentary Practice) An examination by a committee of the votes given at an election, for the purpose of correcting the poll.
    --Brande & C.

Scrutiny

Scrutiny \Scru"ti*ny\, v. t. To scrutinize. [Obs.]

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
scrutiny

early 15c., "a vote to choose someone to decide a question," from Late Latin scrutinium "a search, inquiry" (in Medieval Latin, "a mode of election by ballot"), from Latin scrutari "to examine, investigate, search," from PIE root *skreu- "to cut; cutting tool" (see shred (n.)). Meaning "close examination" first recorded c.1600. Perhaps the original notion of the Latin word is "to search through trash," via scruta (plural) "trash, rags" ("shreds"); or the original sense might be "to cut into, scratch."

Wiktionary
scrutiny

n. 1 Intense study of someone or something. 2 Thorough inspection of a situation or a case. 3 An examination of catechumens, in the last week of Lent, who were to receive baptism on Easter Day. 4 A ticket, or little paper billet, on which a vote is written. 5 An examination by a committee of the votes given at an election, for the purpose of correcting the poll. vb. (context obsolete rare English) To scrutinize.

WordNet
scrutiny

  1. n. the act of examining something closely (as for mistakes) [syn: examination]

  2. a prolonged intense look

Wikipedia
Scrutiny

Scrutiny (French: scrutin; Late Latin: scrutinium; from scrutari, meaning "those who search through piles of rubbish in the hope of finding something of" and originally from the Latin "scruta," meaning "broken things, rags, or rubbish."). In Roman times, the "scrutari" of cities and towns were those who laboriously searched for valuables amidst the waste and cast-offs of others. The modern English "scrutiny" is derived from this root, indicating a careful examination or inquiry (often implying the search for a hidden mistake, misstatement, or incongruity).

The word is specifically applied in the early Roman Catholic Church to the examination of the catechumens or those under instruction in the faith. They were taught the creed and the Lord's Prayer, examined therein, and exorcized prior to baptism. The days of scrutiny varied at different periods from three to seven. From about the end of the 12th century, when it became usual to baptize infants soon after their birth instead of at stated times ( Easter and Pentecost), the ceremony of scrutiny was incorporated with that of the actual baptism.

Currently, there are three moments for the scrutinies to occur: the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Sundays of Lent. These are done in public in front of the entire congregation, and the candidates are dismissed before the Prayer of the Faithful. Only under grave circumstances can the scrutinies be dispensed, and only then by the local ordinary (who can dispense only two at most). The scrutinies are fully intended for the catechumens (i.e., those who are to receive Baptism, Communion, and Confirmation).

Scrutiny is also a term applied to a method of electing a pope in the Catholic Church, in contradistinction to two other methods, acclamation and accession. In the law of elections, scrutiny is the careful examination of votes cast after the unsuccessful candidate has lodged a petition claiming the seat, and alleging that he has the majority of legal votes. Each vote is dealt with separately, notice being given beforehand by one party to the other of the votes objected to and the grounds of objection.

Scrutiny (journal)

Scrutiny: A Quarterly Review was a literature periodical founded in 1932 by L. C. Knights and F. R. Leavis, who remained its principal editor until the final issue in 1953. Other editors included D. W. Harding and Harold Andrew Mason.

An additional volume, number 20, is often included in this series, including "A Retrospect" by Leavis, indexes, and errata.

Usage examples of "scrutiny".

The blastulas were dubbed the 1-1-2041s, and everything about their lives became the subject of intense public scrutiny and fascination and self-righteous horror.

The sun was now shining brilliantly, and she saw a station crowded with Arabs in white burnouses, who were vociferously greeting friends in the train, were offering enormous oranges for sale to the passengers, or were walking up and down gazing curiously into the carriages, with the unblinking determination and indifference to a return of scrutiny which she had already noticed and thought animal.

He was waiting till darkness should blind the eyes of day, which now appeared to gaze on him with intolerable scrutiny, and to read his very soul, that sickened and writhed with its burthen of sin and sorrow.

The old man looked at her long and curiously, his imperfect sight excusing the closeness of his scrutiny.

Despite all the reasons she had to hate Rurik, Maire felt an intense ache begin in her breasts, which caused their traitorous nipples to bead for his appreciative scrutiny.

From her scrutiny, Minnum intuited that she attached some importance to it.

But because the remains were modern in morphology they came under intense negative scrutiny.

The woman clutching his waist glared from face to face, seemingly both outraged and mystified by their scrutiny.

All major newspapers and news services were removed from prepublication scrutiny by the end of July 1948.

Caderousse, whose countenance flushed darkly as he caught the penetrating gaze of the abbe fixed on him, while the clear, calm eye of the questioner seemed to dilate with feverish scrutiny.

The barren landscape stands forth like an illuminated text presenting itself to the scrutiny of a very strong, refortified ego.

The principle of party spirit prevailed over a sense of justice, for the scrutiny of an election is nothing more than a revision of the poll itself, and if such revision cannot be completed before the period at which the writ is returnable, he is bound by his office and oath to make the return agreeably to the poll as actually taken.

Purposefully, the woman snatched up the tin of beans, subjected it to a rather scatological scrutiny, then, with amazing strength, hurled it against a boulder at the edge of the campsite.

He worried that they only had the house in which Martin Donohue was holed up under scrutiny, rather than the young seminarian well in hand.

CHAPTER V THE RED-HAIRED GIRL THE SHADOW pretended to be unconscious of the scrutiny that the flustered Spooner gave him.