Informants
/ɪnˈfɔːrmənts/
Definitions
People who provide information, especially to the police or the authorities.
/ɪnˈfɔːrmənts/
People who provide information.
The detective questioned several informants to gather evidence.
💡 Simply: Imagine you're a detective, and you need help solving a mystery. Informants are like your secret helpers who know a lot of stuff and tell you the important things, like clues. They are sources.
👶 For kids: An informant is a person who tells secrets or gives information to someone, like the police.
More Examples
The newspaper relied on anonymous informants to uncover the scandal.
The government uses informants to monitor terrorist activities.
How It's Used
"Police rely on informants to gather intelligence about criminal activity."
"The journalist protected the identity of her informants who provided sensitive documents."
"Historians analyzed the accounts of multiple informants to piece together a complete picture of the event."
Idioms & expressions
to turn informant
To become someone who gives information to the authorities, often about people they know.
"He turned informant to avoid going to jail."
From the Middle French word *informer* (to inform, accuse), from Latin *informare* (to shape, instruct), from *in-* (in, into) + *formare* (to form). The pluralization to *informants* denotes the plural of the person who provides information.
Historically, the term has been used in various contexts from legal and military to social and political, reflecting its fundamental function of conveying secret or sensitive information.
Memory tip
Think of a person *in*forming you or others about something. They are your *informant*.