Research crossword clue

The most likely answers for the crossword clue “Research” are SEARCH or RHESUS, with 6 letters. Below are 12 answers from 3 to 12 letters, best match first in each length, then what each top answer means and how to tell them apart.

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The best answers, explained

LAB 3 letters · noun

a workplace for the conduct of scientific research

SEARCH 6 letters · verb

inquire into “He searched for information on his relatives on the web”

EXPLORE 7 letters · verb

inquire into

LABORATORY 10 letters · noun

a workplace for the conduct of scientific research

INVESTIGATOR 12 letters · noun

a scientist who devotes themself to doing research

Telling them apart

With 7 squares, EXPLORE, INQUIRY, ENQUIRY and POSTDOC all fit. The first letter settles most of it: E → EXPLORE, ENQUIRY · I → INQUIRY · P → POSTDOC. Fill in that crossing answer first.

With 12 squares, INVESTIGATOR, POSTDOCTORAL and EXPERIMENTER all fit. The first letter tells them all apart: I → INVESTIGATOR · P → POSTDOCTORAL · E → EXPERIMENTER. Fill in that crossing answer first.

Other forms of this clue

Clues often use another form of the word, and the answer then takes the same form: “researches” wants an answer that ends the same way.

What “research” means

• noun: systematic investigation to establish facts
• noun: a search for knowledge (“their pottery deserves more research than it has received”)
• verb: attempt to find out in a systematically and scientific manner (“The student researched the history of that word”)
• verb: inquire into (“the students had to research the history of the Second World War for their history project”)

A clue usually points at one of these senses, so the right answer is the one that matches the sense the puzzle means: check it against the crossing words.

About these answers

We match the clue against our own thesaurus and dictionary (Open English WordNet): words that mean the same as RESEARCH, and words whose definition is RESEARCH. We don't copy answers from newspaper puzzles, so a clue that leans on trivia or wordplay may need the crossing letters instead.