Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A person, usually a member of a police force, who investigates crimes and obtains evidence or information.
  • adjective Of or relating to detectives or their work.
  • adjective Suited for or used in detection.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Fitted for or skilled in detecting; employed in detecting: as, the detective police.
  • Relating to detectives or to detection: as, a detective story.
  • noun 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.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One who business it is so detect criminals or discover matters of secrecy.
  • adjective Fitted for, or skilled in, detecting; employed in detecting crime or criminals.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun law enforcement A police officer who looks for evidence as part of solving a crime; an investigator.
  • noun A person employed to find information not otherwise available to the public.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an investigator engaged or employed in obtaining information not easily available to the public
  • noun a police officer who investigates crimes

Etymologies

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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.

    ABC News: Top Stories 2011

  • 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 2009

  • Nobody, not even the young actress girlfriend of the main detective, is dressed to impress.

    Tin Boxes 2008

  • Nobody, not even the young actress girlfriend of the main detective, is dressed to impress.

    Lance Mannion: 2008

  • 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.

    December 2007 Maxine 2007

  • 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.

    Sunday Salon: The Coffin Trail Maxine 2007

  • 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.

    Sunday Salon: The Coffin Trail Maxine 2007

  • 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.

    poststar.com RSS 2009

  • 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 matociquala 2010

  • She needed information gathering, so Bullard embarked on what he termed "detective work -- putting together a puzzle."

    Marcia G. Yerman: Dr. Robert D. Bullard: Justice for Our Children Marcia G. Yerman 2011

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