Scrutinize or scrutinize ? According to the Royal Spanish Academy ( RAE ), both terms are correct. These concepts allow us to refer to the development of an analysis or a detailed examination of something , trying to understand its operation or its characteristics.
Based on all of the above, we can establish that synonyms of scrutinize are words such as inquire, observe, inquire, rummage, search or investigate, for example. On the contrary, the antonyms of this term include everything from being distracted to abandoning and not understanding.
For example: “I dedicated myself to scrutinizing several documentaries on the Internet but I did not find interesting information on this topic,” “The prosecutor should have scrutinized various documents before moving forward with the investigation,” “When reaching the crossroads, the driver stopped to scrutinize the map.”
When a person scrutinizes a thing, he concentrates on it and pays attention to its details. Looking at a photograph is not the same as scrutinizing it: when scrutinizing, we look for elements that may go unnoticed by the naked eye. That is why scrutinizing requires time, since it is not an action that can be carried out in a hurry.
Suppose a journalist receives a ten-page document alleging corruption involving a prominent politician. The logic of journalistic work forces the person who received the information to scrutinize it to determine if it is reliable, if what is stated can be demonstrated, etc. If the journalist does not feel like scrutinizing the complaint, he may only read the first page of the document and then discard it.
In the field of Christianity, it is said that Jesus Christ asked the faithful to search the Scriptures , according to what was maintained in the gospel of John . This is because only deep study of the Bible allows the understanding and assimilation of its teachings.
That is something he did using the following speech: “Search the Scriptures because it seems to you that in them you have eternal life and they are the ones that testify about me.”
Precisely for this reason, in the religious sphere it is encouraged that the faithful proceed to thoroughly search the Scriptures. In order to carry it out, it is considered that they must follow certain steps and advice such as establishing a schedule, praying before and after studying them, carefully examining that sacred document, trying to find answers to the questions they have, meditating...
Sometimes, two terms are often confused, such as reading and scrutinizing. However, they are different concepts. Thus, while the first verb simply refers to looking at a document and interpreting it mentally at that moment. On the contrary, scrutinize is a verb that refers to examining and analyzing very carefully the deepest aspects of that text in question.
In the same way, reading is considered to be an activity that is associated with a human cause while searching is usually used to relate to a mystical cause. That is, reading is a mental type and scrutinizing is a more spiritual type of action.