introspect
/ˌɪntɹəˈspɛkt/verb
introspect is a verb meaning “To engage in introspection” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled I-N-T-R-O-S-P-E-C-T and has 3 syllables, and it appears about once in every 13 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data).
What does introspect mean?
verb
- 1
To engage in introspection.
- 2
To look into.
- 3
To examine by means of type introspection.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce introspect?
- /ˌɪntɹəˈspɛkt/
Introspect has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-introspect.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of introspect
- introspects present, singular, he/she/it
- introspecting participle, present
- introspected participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is introspect?
Introspect appears about once in every 13 million words in written English, the 110,368th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Introspect in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | s'examiner , examiner |
| Spanish | introspeccionarse , introspeccionar |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does introspect come from?
From Latin intrōspectus, past participle of intrōspiciō. By surface analysis, intro- + -spect.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).