Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A person, usually a member of a police force, who investigates crimes and obtains evidence or information.
- adj. Of or relating to detectives or their work: detective novels.
- adj. Suited for or used in detection.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Fitted for or skilled in detecting; employed in detecting: as, the detective police.
- Relating to detectives or to detection: as, a detective story.
- n. A person whose occupation it is to discover matters as to which information is desired, particularly concerning wrong-doers, and to obtain evidence to be used against them. His duties differ from those of the ordinary policeman in that he has no specific beat or round, and in that he is concerned with the investigation of specific cases, or the watching of particular individuals or classes of offenders, rather than with the general guardianship of the peace, and does not wear a distinguishing uniform.
Wiktionary
- n. law enforcement A police officer who looks for evidence as part of solving a crime; an investigator.
- n. A person employed to find information not otherwise available to the public.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Fitted for, or skilled in, detecting; employed in detecting crime or criminals.
- n. One who business it is so detect criminals or discover matters of secrecy.
WordNet 3.0
- n. an investigator engaged or employed in obtaining information not easily available to the public
- n. a police officer who investigates crimes
Examples
“Be a label detective and learn how to decode labels," said Dr. Clifford Bassett, a fellow of the American College of Asthma, Allergy and Immunology and an assistant clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone School of Medicine.”
“Bolt the main detective is a much more believable character, who is essentially a decent bloke but has some quite serious flaws.”
All Things Girl » All Things Girl » Blog Archive » Book Review: Relentless by Simon Kernick
“Nobody, not even the young actress girlfriend of the main detective, is dressed to impress.”
“Highly recommended if you like police procedurals -- the main detective is a woman, Hannah Scarlett (lovely name, I wish I'd been called that) -- with a "local mystery" theme.”
“HOLLYWOOD -- On Friday night's series finale of USA's "Monk," the title detective played by Tony Shalhoub finally learns the truth about his wife's murder.”
“And now I am possessed of the finger-curling desire to write a murder mystery in which the detective is the elderly and somewhat doddering Lancelot, now ordained a priest in Glastonbury.”
arise, sir percivale, the noble knight and god's knight, and go with me
“She needed information gathering, so Bullard embarked on what he termed "detective work -- putting together a puzzle.”
The Huffington Post: Marcia G. Yerman: Dr. Robert D. Bullard: Justice for Our Children
“(For example, a detective is almost always more cunning than a barbarian).”
Superhero Nation: how to write superhero novels and comic books » 2009 » November » 03
“In that zone of "legend", the detective is a prime motif (Angel, X Files, Fringe, the Lost Room -- with the latter being a particularly pertinent example.)”
“Mysteries in which the detective is a dinosaur disguised as a human (this is not a joke).”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘detective’.
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POL - people in power
daredevil, tzar, king, boss, master, commander, chief, kingpin, top banana, bigwig, big cheese, big wheel and 452 more...
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EN - academic vocabulary
Use these and get promoted
abandon, abandonment, abnormally, abstract, abstraction, abstractly, abstracts, academia, academic, academically, academics, academies and 3119 more...
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EU Buzz - single words (1+2+3)
1. Strictly EU terms with special European meaning used only in the EU
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2. Keywords central to the understanding of the EU (people working for the EU are usually able to give thematic...acceleration, action, additionality, administrator, agenda, agricultural, agri-environmental, agriflation, agri-food, applicant, approach, assent and 1325 more...
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Job names
accountant, salesman, actor, galley slave, actress, captain, lumberjack, janitor, judge, policeman, reporter, anchor and 7 more...
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Cops
police, cops, federales, five-o, pigs, g-man, swat, chips, atf, coppers, fuzz, boys in blue and 84 more...
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cindywrites's Words
chiaroscuro, mollycoddle, feckless, evocative, provocative, invocation, beckon, allay, becalm, console, lull, soothe and 479 more...
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SoSheShall's list
slurp, coeur, slurple, glop, perp, fluarxx, ropechno, herrherr, burrduhherrherr, sloppy, cheezie balls, eccentric and 634 more...
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the_grene_kni3t's Words
acuarela, sesquipedalian, capital, métier, chap, cove, guv, guv'nor, ratiocination, transatlantique, ineffable, aural and 142 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
contemplate, container, consumer, consultant, consensus, conscious, conscience, connection, confusion, confront, conflict, confident and 4334 more...
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deegee's Words
pay-per-view, vitriol, delectable, snarky, unflinching, forsake, pervasive, inconsequential, unnerving, allure, endearing, unalloyed and 414 more...
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boychoir's Words
tantamount, nom de guerre, absurd, dolt, transmute, dichotomy, dandy, schadenfreude, ennui, binary, analog, obfuscate and 93 more...
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Scriptie: NYPD Blue
I haven't seen this show in forever, but I used to watch reruns all the time.
pros, lawyer up, bookie, shy, stripper, c.i., i.a.b., psych, precinct, 15th, prostrate, take care of the ... and 17 more...
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Let's Go To the Movies
Film genres. Also see film--1 by bradleyrturner.
silent, talkie, drama, coming-of-age, comedy, black comedy, buddy movie, slapstick, romance, romcom, tearjerker, period piece and 44 more...
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TT3 Lesson 33
dig, bury, detective, mystery, solve, vegetable, veggies, Sherlock Holmes, horn, grumble, crazy, pizzeria and 4 more...
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Stuffie: Who's Keeping Score?
Stuffie #5. Stuff you play.
game, instrument, music, fool, around, along, nice, card, pretend, dead, dumb, king and 21 more...
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Words Noir
assassination, stiletto, clubbed, shadowed, vengeance, croaked, guilt, conscience, inheritance, detective, dame, murder and 26 more...
Tweets
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