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Business vocabularyphrasal verb · /dɪɡ ˈɪntuː/

dig into

In simple English

To examine something thoroughly, often to find the root cause of a problem or to understand data patterns. Common in debugging, analysis, and research tasks.

Someone wants to know what their teammate means when they say they will "dig into" a bug or issue.

At a glanceCEFR B1–B2
Commonness
Versatility
FormalityCasualFormalNeutral
Spoken ↔ WrittenSpokenWrittenBoth
Directness ↔ DiplomaticDirectDiplomaticNeutral
Region

Say it like this

✓Let me dig into the logs and get back to you.
✓I'll dig into this after lunch.
✓We need to dig into why this keeps happening.
✓I've been digging into the performance issues all morning.
✓Can someone dig into the root cause?

Real examples

Standup

"Today I'll dig into the failing tests and find out what's causing them."

Slack message

"I'm digging into the API timeout issue now. Will update you in an hour."

GitHub PR

"I dug into the memory leak and found the problem in the caching logic."

Jira ticket

"Need to dig into customer feedback to understand why users are dropping off at checkout."

Retrospective

"We should dig into why so many bugs slipped through QA this sprint."

Sprint planning

"This ticket requires digging into the legacy codebase, so let's add extra points."

Pair programming

"Let's dig into this function together and figure out the logic."

Don't say this

✕I will dig in the bug.
✓I will dig into the bug.— 'Dig into' is a fixed phrasal verb. You need 'into', not just 'in'.
✕I dig into it yesterday.
✓I dug into it yesterday.— The past tense of 'dig' is 'dug', not 'dig'.
✕I'm digging into to find the answer.
✓I'm digging into this to find the answer.— You need an object after 'dig into'. Say what you are investigating.

Other forms

base form

dig into

"I need to dig into this issue."

present participle

digging into

"She's digging into the logs right now."

past simple

dug into

"We dug into the problem yesterday."

past participle

dug into

"I've already dug into the data."

Often used with

dig into the dataAnalyze information or metrics closely
dig into the root causeInvestigate the main reason for a problem
dig into the logsSearch through log files to find information
dig into the codeExamine codebase carefully to understand or debug
dig into the detailsLook at specific points, not just the summary
dig into feedbackAnalyze user or customer responses carefully

Similar words

investigateMore formal; often used in documentation or reports
look intoSimilar meaning but slightly less intensive investigation
dive intoSuggests starting quickly and with enthusiasm
exploreMore open-ended; not always problem-focused
analyzeMore formal; emphasizes structured examination of data

Opposites

skimglance atoverlookignoreskip

Practice

Try it

4 quick exercises

Choose the most natural option

1. Your manager asks about a bug. You want to say you will investigate it carefully. What do you say?

Spot the mistake

2. Which sentence has an error?

Fill in the blank

3. I've been _____ into the performance issues all morning and I think I found the cause.

Rewrite naturally

4. Rewrite this sentence to sound more natural: 'I will investigate the customer data to find patterns.'

More words

root causeinvestigatedebuganalyzelook intodeep divetroubleshoottrace

Questions

Quick poll

Have you said "dig into" in a standup this week?

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