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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

detect.

To discover or notice, especially by careful search, examination, or probing.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/dɪˈtɛkt/UK
  1. To discover or notice, especially by careful search, examination, or probing.

    transitive
    The forensic examiners detected tiny traces of the poison on the suspect's gloves.
    On entering the room, I immediately detected the smell of gas.
  2. To work or solve cases as a detective.

    informal · intransitive
Where this word comes from

From Latin detectus, perfect passive participle of detegere (“to uncover or disclose”), from de- + tegere (“to cover”); see tegument, tile, thatch. Sense "to work or solve cases as a detective" a back-formation from detective.

adj/dɪˈtɛkt/UK
  1. Detected.

    not-comparable · obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Latin detectus, perfect passive participle of detegere (“to uncover or disclose”), from de- + tegere (“to cover”); see tegument, tile, thatch. Sense "to work or solve cases as a detective" a back-formation from detective.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.