informant
informant Lexical Profile
informant Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A person who provides privileged or confidential information about a person or organization to an agency such as the police or the media.
"The investigative journalist relied on a trusted informant inside the agency to verify the leaked documents."
A native speaker or member of a community who provides data and cultural or linguistic insights to an anthropologist, linguist, or sociologist.
"During her fieldwork in the Andes, the linguist recorded several hours of folktales from an elderly Quechua informant."
Word Nuance & Usage
While 'informant' and 'informer' both refer to someone who provides privileged information to authorities, 'informer' carries a much stronger pejorative connotation of betrayal, whereas 'informant' is the standard neutral term in law enforcement, journalism, and academic research.
• Rhymes for informant
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French or directly from Latin 'informantem', the present participle of 'informare' ('to shape, instruct, or describe'). The specialized sense of a native speaker assisting a linguist emerged in the early 20th century.