Investigative means devoted to finding out the facts. Investigative journalism, investigative powers, an investigative team.
It is almost always attached to journalism, where it names the slow expensive kind that uncovers what somebody wanted hidden — months of work for one story, which is why it is the first thing cut when budgets shrink. Investigative powers are what a regulator may use to compel evidence. Note investigate, investigation.
1adjectiveinvestigativeDevoted to finding out the facts.
“The police set up an investigative team to look into the missing money.”
investigative is a quality of enquiry.
Latin
investīgātiō — a searching into
English
investigate
English, today
investigative
From investigate + -ive. investigate Recorded since circa 1510, a a back-formation from investigation on the basis of -ate, from Latin investīgātiō (“a searching into”), from investīgātus, the perfect passive participle of investīgō, equivalent to in- + vestigate. Displaced native undersēċan.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA