informant
UK /ɪnˈfɔːmənt/ · US /ɪnˈfɔɹmənt/ noun
Forms informants
- noun One who relays confidential information to someone, especially to the police; an informer.
- noun (linguistics, proscribed in the US and Canada) A native speaker who acts as a linguistic reference for a language being studied. The informant demonstrates native pronunciation, provides grammaticality judgments regarding linguistic well-formedness, and may also explain cultural references and other important contextual information.
Synonyms
consultant abaddon accuser beefer bewrayer bigmouth blabber blabtale blabtongue canary CI finger fink fizgig gossip grass informer jurat leak mole source witness witnesser
Etymology
L. informans, -antis, p.pr. of informare. See Inform, v. t.
Webster’s 1913
- noun One who, or that which, informs, animates, or vivifies. [Obs.]
- noun One who imparts information or instruction.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “informant”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details