detect
[dih-tekt]
- to discover or catch (a person) in the performance of some act: to detect someone cheating.
- to discover the existence of: to detect the odor of gas.
- to find out the true character or activity of: to detect a spy.
- Telecommunications.
- to rectify alternating signal currents in a radio receiver.
- to demodulate.
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Origin of detect
1400–50; late Middle English < Latin dētēctus (past participle of dētegere), equivalent to dē- de- + teg(ere) to cover + -tus past participle suffix
Synonym study
2. See learn.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for detect
Contemporary Examples
No one who lives in an American city requires a flashlight to detect the presence of immigrants or the challenges they face daily.
Testing methods can now detect HIV within ten days of infection.
The company is already brainstorming what it can detect next.
There is only one approved, working test that can detect whether or not Ebola is present in the blood.
This New Ebola Test Is As Easy As a Pregnancy Test, So Why Aren’t We Using It?Abby Haglage
October 3, 2014
Without the beeps and whirs of a cellphone, you can use your ears to detect crickets, mice, or other vermin in your home.
Historical Examples
In more than one case, we seem to detect an actual portrait.
De Libris: Prose and VerseAustin Dobson
How often, my dear, have you and I endeavoured to detect and censure this partial spirit in others?
Clarissa, Volume 2 (of 9)Samuel Richardson
He could detect a design upon it when nobody else had any perception of the fact.
Little DorritCharles Dickens
The eye could not detect one creature in the group free from the smear of blood.
A Tale of Two CitiesCharles Dickens
The spy had kept his eyes open, but had been able to detect no sign.
A Tale of Two CitiesCharles Dickens
detect
- to perceive or noticeto detect a note of sarcasm
- to discover the existence or presence of (esp something likely to elude observation)to detect alcohol in the blood
- to extract information from (an electromagnetic wave)
- obsolete to reveal or expose (a crime, criminal, etc)
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Word Origin
C15: from Latin dētectus uncovered, from dētegere to uncover, from de- + tegere to cover
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for detect
v.
early 15c., from Latin detectus, past participle of detegere "uncover, expose," figuratively "discover, reveal, disclose," from de- "un-, off" (see de-) + tegere "to cover" (see stegosaurus). Related: Detected; detecting.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper