noun
adjective
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used in or serving for detection
-
serving to detect
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of detective
Explanation
Whether it's a police detective who investigates crimes or a private detective hired to find a missing person, a detective is someone whose job is to find out hard-to-get information. Detective comes from the Latin root detectus meaning to uncover or expose. Detectives detect, or discern and uncover the truth, the way a dog might detect an odor and uncover a bone. Sherlock Holmes, perhaps the most famous detective in fiction, used disguises, deductive reasoning and forensics to solve crimes. "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth," he famously said.
Vocabulary lists containing detective
Miranda v. Arizona (1966): Syllabus
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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:
Police initially struggled to identify suspects, as the descriptions given were generic and a detective compiled an error-ridden photo lineup, according to the center.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026
Bautista also appeared in 2021's Dune and its 2024 sequel, James Bond film Spectre, Army of the Dead and Knives Out detective thriller Glass Onion.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
A former Las Vegas homicide detective told the jury earlier this week that no witnesses had been able to identify the shooter.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
She could write and she wrote a great deal, including detective fiction, a gothic thriller “of devilry, seduction, and hashish” and stories about “ghosts, suicides, and kidnapping.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
They called themselves the Clue Crew and had a detective headquarters in Nancy's bedroom.
From "Pony Problems: Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew, #3" by Carolyn Keene
Jonathan and Juliet, who occasionally act as amateur detectives, are smitten with each other.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
According to detectives, her mother was “very much alive.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
The Metropolitan Police said detectives were working at pace to establish the full circumstances surrounding the death, and that urgent inquiries remain ongoing.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
On March 17, the victim’s father confronted Joseph about his actions, which he admitted to both the father and to Tontitown detectives.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
In the early morning hours of April 20, in Maryland, two teams of detectives were planning a raid that would take George Atzerodt.
From "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson
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.
