detector

American  

[dih-tek-ter] / dɪˈtɛk tər /

noun

detectors plural

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.

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detector British  

/ 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

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• detectors
  plural

Etymology

Origin of detector

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

Explanation

A detector is a machine that responds to particular substances in a consistent way. Everyone who flies on an airplane must pass through a metal detector, which beeps when it senses metal. A "lie detector" works by measuring pulse and eye movements as a person responds to a series of questions. A radioactivity detector looks for high levels of radioactivity in nuclear power plants. Since the invention of detectors, the idea of more fantastical detectors has filled the human imagination. A love detector: why not?

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

detector detectors

Scientists use those flashes to determine where the particle traveled and how it interacted with the detector.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 17, 2026

The researchers also considered how the technology might perform in a much larger detector.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 17, 2026

In June, it launched an "AI music detector" which it said is 99.8% accurate.

From Barron's ● Jul. 10, 2026

Two years earlier, the FAA had begun to require that all carry-on luggage be X-rayed for weapons and passengers be scanned by a metal detector.

From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2026

I’m jolted awake by the drone of our motion detector alarm.

From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman

Undeterred by the flashes in the sky and the rain that began to fall, large crowds gathered just outside the metal detectors as darkness fell.

From Barron's ● Jul. 5, 2026

Some astrophysicists have suggested the signal may simply be noise within LIGO's extremely sensitive detectors rather than evidence of a remarkable new discovery.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 3, 2026

Nervous students were met with biometric identification checks, metal detectors, armoured patrols and frisking at exam centres on Sunday morning.

From BBC ● Jun. 21, 2026

At Hockney’s 70th-birthday party at Tate Britain in London, Sykes’s biography recounts, the museum’s smoke detectors were turned off for 10 minutes after dinner so the guest of honor could have a cigarette.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026

Where were the chain-link fences, the metal detectors?

From "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer

Related Words

• radar