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:
Reform UK has chosen a former Metropolitan Police detective to contest the Holborn and St Pancras by-election on 8 October.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
Increasingly, Americans seem accustomed to doing that sort of detective work themselves.
From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026
For O'Connor, the research also demonstrated how much paleontology can resemble detective work.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 11, 2026
The cases taken by these seat-of-the-pants sleuths are not always cloak-and-dagger—a potential client of their fledgling detective agency commends them at one point for having found someone else’s lost dog.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026
He stumbled to the door in his bathrobe and found a detective standing there.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
The detectives brought the bags of tapes into the room where Bayoumi was being questioned - and some of the footage was played to him.
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026
Like detectives following a suspect’s footprints, savvy investors know it’s important to read the clues the market is giving.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026
He was blue-lighted down to Paddington Green Police Station in London, where detectives began questioning him.
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026
Police had known about a potential connection between Davis and the Shakur killing since 2008, when detectives investigating the Wallace murder interviewed Davis.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026
Secretary Stanton attempted to coordinate the efforts of the local police force, detectives, and the army.
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.
