detector

[dih-tek-ter]

noun

1. a person or thing that detects.

2. a device for detecting smoke, fire, or some other hazardous condition.

3. a device for detecting the presence of metal, contraband, or other items that might be hidden or concealed.

4. Telecommunications.

   1. a device for detecting electric oscillations or waves.

   2. a device, as a crystal detector or a vacuum tube, that rectifies the alternating current in a radio receiver.

detector

/ dɪˈtɛktə /

noun

1. a person or thing that detects

2. any mechanical sensing device

3. electronics a device used in the detection of radio signals

Word History and Origins

Origin of detector¹

1535–45; < Late Latin dētēctor revealer, equivalent to Latin dēteg ( ere ) to uncover, reveal ( detect ) + -tor -tor

Example Sentences

Her apartment is equipped with radiation detectors, air-quality monitors and emergency lights.

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The boss of one the UK's largest providers of metal detectors says sales to schools of knife arches and handheld wands have risen.

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Mudryk's legal team and those in his tight-knit circle insist he did not knowingly ingest any banned substance, and multiple sources claim he has passed an unverified lie detector test attesting to that.

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Ticket in hand, he walked to Gate 52, unhindered at the time by X-ray machines or metal detectors.

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Now as president, his portrait hangs in the entrance to the federal courthouse, just over the metal detectors.

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Related Words

• radar