detect
Americanverb (used with object)
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to discover or catch (a person) in the performance of some act.
to detect someone cheating.
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to discover the existence of.
to detect the odor of gas.
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to find out the true character or activity of.
to detect a spy.
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Telecommunications.
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to rectify alternating signal currents in a radio receiver.
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to demodulate.
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verb
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to perceive or notice
to detect a note of sarcasm
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to discover the existence or presence of (esp something likely to elude observation)
to detect alcohol in the blood
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to extract information from (an electromagnetic wave)
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obsolete to reveal or expose (a crime, criminal, etc)
Usage
What are other ways to say detect?
To detect is to discover something hidden or unknown. When should you use detect over learn, discover, or ascertain? Find out on Thesaurus.com.
Other Word Forms
- detectability noun
- detectable adjective
- detecter noun
- detectibility noun
- detectible adjective
- predetect verb (used with object)
- undetectable adjective
- undetectably adverb
- undetected adjective
- undetectible adjective
Etymology
Origin of detect
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin dētēctus “discovered,” past participle of dētegere “to uncover, discover,” from dē- de- + tegere “to cover”; thatch
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.
Northern Ireland is also the only UK region yet to lower the level at which traces of blood in a home screening test trigger further investigation to detect more bowel cancers early.
From BBC
The investigators cited the inability of Ford’s system to detect and respond to a stationary vehicle in the Texas crash.
"It's always hard to be 100 percent, but we can detect more than 90 percent of what's happening in real time."
From Barron's
The SocGen team, led by Pierre Bergeron, also worried about a lack of transparency on asset quality, “making it harder to detect early warning signs of stress.”
From MarketWatch
Future experiments may be able to detect these signals, giving scientists a rare opportunity to test ideas about the universe's quantum beginnings.
From Science Daily
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.
