detail
Americannoun
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details
plural
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an individual or minute part; an item or particular.
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particulars collectively; minutiae.
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attention to or treatment of a subject in individual or minute parts.
to postpone detail and concentrate on a subject as a whole.
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intricate, finely wrought decoration.
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Engineering. detail drawing.
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any small section of a larger structure or whole, considered as a unit.
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Military.
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an appointment or assignment, as of a small group or an officer, for a special task.
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the party or person so selected.
the kitchen detail.
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a particular assignment of duty.
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the property of an image or of a method of image production to make small, closely spaced image elements individually distinguishable.
verb (used with object)
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details,
present (3rd person singular)
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detailed,
past participle, past
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detailing
present participle
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to relate or report with complete particulars; tell fully and distinctly.
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to mention one by one; specify; list.
He detailed the events leading up to the robbery.
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Military. to appoint or assign for some particular duty.
We were detailed to patrol the border.
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to provide with intricate, finely wrought decoration.
lingerie detailed with lace and embroidery.
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to thoroughly clean (a vehicle or part of a vehicle) and do minor repairs to improve its appearance.
We detail the wheels and chrome to remove the rust.
idioms
noun
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an item or smaller part that is considered separately; particular
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an item or circumstance that is insignificant or unimportant
passengers' comfort was regarded as a detail
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treatment of or attention to items or particulars
this essay includes too much detail
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items collectively; particulars
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a small or accessory section or element in a painting, building, statue, etc, esp when considered in isolation
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military
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the act of assigning personnel for a specific duty, esp a fatigue
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the personnel selected
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the duty or assignment
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to include all or most particulars
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including all or most particulars or items thoroughly
verb
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to list or relate fully
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military to select (personnel) for a specific duty
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to decorate or elaborate (carving, etc) with fine delicate drawing or designs
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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detailsimple
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detailssimple
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have detailedperfect
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has detailedperfect
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am detailingprogressive
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are detailingprogressive
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is detailingprogressive
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have been detailingperfect progressive
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has been detailingperfect progressive
Past
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detailedsimple
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had detailedperfect
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was detailingprogressive
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were detailingprogressive
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had been detailingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of detail
First recorded in 1595–1605; from French détail, Old French, noun derivative of detailler “to cut in pieces,” equivalent to de- “away, apart , etc.” ( see dis- 1) + tailler “to cut,” from unattested Vulgar Latin taliāre; see tailor 1
Explanation
A detail is a small fact or spot in a larger entity. That ambiguous smile is just one detail of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. Detail comes from the French for cutting into pieces, but in English we only use it to refer to the pieces. As a noun, detail means an isolated aspect of something larger. If you're painting a landscape, don't forget details like individual birds and trees. Detail can also mean a team of workers for a special task. If you go on a group camping trip, try for the food detail instead of the trash detail.
Vocabulary lists containing detail
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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TEKS ELAR Academic Vocabulary List (5th-7th grades)
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Academic Vocabulary: Core Tier 2 Words, List 3
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Judge Maurice Greene said: "That statement is a long statement and that has been disclosed to all defence counsel and it contains a lot of detail."
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
They plan to use the technique on additional particle collision data to search for more examples and study them in greater detail.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 6, 2026
Saturated with convincing detail about the world of classical music and film scoring, the movie is a compelling character study marred only by a certain episodic quality.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026
South Korea's defence minister said on Tuesday the military had "a range of necessary measures at our disposal, and we will implement them in stages" to respond to the DMZ incident, without providing further detail.
From Barron's ● Oct. 3, 2026
Her face, that was a detail that was supposed to slip into the cracks of time and vanish as quickly as it had come.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
The girl is now in the custody of a Mexican government agency responsible for child protection, Rosas said, adding that more details would be shared later this week.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
Court filings around the deal bring new details to light, including that Rush revealed the existence and description of a "clandestine human source" to a foreign official.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
Other voters received notices asking for proof of their identity after computer software flagged them for discrepancies in demographic details or over minor misspellings of their names.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
Treasury press office declined to deny any of the details of the article.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026
He gave Jop the details and hurried away.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
In Beatles scholar Kevin Howlett’s detailed account of the making of the album, presented here in a tastefully illustrated 88-page hardback book, one of the unsung heroes of the record is Hazel Yarwood.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
Cornell said that Sally Yates, who served as deputy US attorney general from 2015 to 2017 and briefly led the Justice Department, would conduct a "detailed review" of the university's response to the rape allegations.
From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026
Morgan said in a note to clients the results of the trial were well above expectations, though more detailed data would be required to fully understand the commercial opportunity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
The damning judgement landed less than five days after Manchester United's extended filing to the New York Stock Exchange which detailed their end of year accounts to 30 June 2026.
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
The veins, the spine, the nervous system: it is all there in Leonardo’s notebooks, immaculately crosshatched and detailed.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
It also said that Amazon had the most energy-efficient data centers and will publish annual reports detailing its utility usage and efficiency.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
Mike Tomlin’s YouTube video detailing his labor of love of more than a decade is well on its way to a million views in less than 24 hours.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
Islamabad confirmed "planned and calibrated" strikes in Afghanistan, without detailing locations, which it said targeted militants.
From Barron's ● Oct. 1, 2026
In a press release, the track was described as "a tender country song detailing broken family ties, that holds wider resonances".
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
Larson passed over an old National Geographic that showed the architectural detailing of some ancient Mesoamerican temples.
From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
