adj
Meaning 1
Employed in detecting.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: not-comparable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
detective
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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/dɪˈtɛktɪv/ weak vowel distinction
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[dɪˈthɛkthɪv] weak vowel distinction
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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/dəˈtɛktɪv/ weak vowel merger
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[dəˈthɛkthɪv] weak vowel merger
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US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -ɛktɪv
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CMU ARPABET: D IH0 T EH1 K T IH0 V Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
A police officer tasked with collecting evidence and information in order to solve a crime; an investigator.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: government, law-enforcement
Examples
- He worked as a detective with the agency for five years.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: police detective
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
A person employed to find information not otherwise available to the public.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
a police officer who investigates crimes
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: investigator, tec, police detective
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: policeman, police officer, officer
Narrower terms: dick, gumshoe, hawkshaw, plainclothesman, tracer
noun
Meaning 5
an investigator engaged or employed in obtaining information not easily available to the public
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: investigator
Narrower terms: private detective, PI, private eye, private investigator, operative, shamus, sherlock, sleuth, sleuthhound
History
Etymology
The adjective is from Classical Latin dētēct-, past participial stem of dētegō (“to detect”), + -ive. The noun is an ellipsis of detective policeman, detective officer, or a similar construction. By surface analysis, detect + -ive.
Across languages
Translations
203 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Albanian: detektiv — police officer who looks for evidence
- Arabic: مُحَقِّق (muḥaqqiq) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Armenian: խուզարկու (xuzarku) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Asturian: detective — police officer who looks for evidence
- Azerbaijani: detektiv — police officer who looks for evidence
- Azerbaijani: xəfiyyəçi — police officer who looks for evidence
- Azerbaijani: xəfiyyə — police officer who looks for evidence
- Belarusian: дэтэкты́ў (detektýw) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Belarusian: шука́ч (šukáč) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Belarusian: сле́дчы (sljédčy) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Bengali: গোয়েন্দা (gōẇenda) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Bengali: গুপ্তচর (guptocor) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Bulgarian: детекти́в (detektív) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Burmese: စုံထောက် (cumhtauk) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Catalan: detectiu — police officer who looks for evidence
- Cebuano: detektib — police officer who looks for evidence
- Chinese Mandarin: 偵探 /侦探 (zhēntàn) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Chinese Mandarin: 警探 (jǐngtàn) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Chinese Mandarin: 探員 /探员 (tànyuán) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Czech: detektiv — police officer who looks for evidence
- Danish: detektiv — police officer who looks for evidence
- Dutch: rechercheur — police officer who looks for evidence
- Dutch: speurder — police officer who looks for evidence
- Dutch: detective — police officer who looks for evidence
- Esperanto: policana detektivo — police officer who looks for evidence
- Estonian: detektiiv — police officer who looks for evidence
- Finnish: etsivä — police officer who looks for evidence
- French: détective — police officer who looks for evidence
- West-Frisian: resjersjeur — police officer who looks for evidence
- Friulian: investigadôr — police officer who looks for evidence
- Galician: detective — police officer who looks for evidence
- Georgian: დეტექტივი (deṭekṭivi) — police officer who looks for evidence
- German: Ermittler — police officer who looks for evidence
- German: Ermittlerin — police officer who looks for evidence
- German: Detektiv — police officer who looks for evidence
- German: Detektivin — police officer who looks for evidence
- Greek: αστυνομικός ερευνητής (astynomikós erevnitís) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Greek: ερευνητής (erevnitís) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Greek: ντετέκτιβ (ntetéktiv) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Hebrew: בַּלָּשׁ (balásh) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Hebrew: בַּלָּשִׁית (balashít) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Hebrew: חוֹקֵר (khokér) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Hebrew: חוֹקֶרֶת (khokéret) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Hindi: अन्वेषक (anveṣak) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Hindi: जाँचकर्ता (jā̃ckartā) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Hindi: जासूस (jāsūs) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Hindi: गुप्तचर (guptacar) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Hindi: खोजी (khojī) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Hungarian: nyomozó — police officer who looks for evidence
- Hungarian: detektív — police officer who looks for evidence
- Icelandic: leynilögreglumaður — police officer who looks for evidence
- Icelandic: rannsóknarlögreglumaður — police officer who looks for evidence
- Ido: detektivo — police officer who looks for evidence
- Indonesian: detektif — police officer who looks for evidence
- Irish: bleachtaire — police officer who looks for evidence
- Italian: investigatore — police officer who looks for evidence
- Japanese: 探偵 (tantei) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Japanese: 刑事 (keiji) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Kazakh: детектив (detektiv) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Kazakh: тыңшы (tyñşy) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Khmer: រន្ឋគវេសី (ruənthĕəʼkĕəʼveisəy) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Khmer: ហិតប្រណី (hət pranəy) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Khmer: អ្នកយកការណ៍ (nĕək yɔɔ kɑɑ kaa) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Khmer: គិញ (kɨñ) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Khmer: ចារបុរស (caaraʼborɑh) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Korean: 탐정 (tamjeong) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Korean: 형사 (hyeongsa) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Northern Kurdish: dedektîf — police officer who looks for evidence
- Northern Kurdish: xefiye — police officer who looks for evidence
- Kyrgyz: тыңчы (tıŋcı) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Kyrgyz: сыщик (sışcik) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Kyrgyz: аңдуучу (aŋduucu) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Lao: ນັກສືບ (nak sư̄p) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Latin: inquīsītor — police officer who looks for evidence
- Latvian: detektīvs — police officer who looks for evidence
- Lithuanian: detektyvas — police officer who looks for evidence
- Macedonian: детекти́в (detektív) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Malay: detektif — police officer who looks for evidence
- Malay: mata gelap — police officer who looks for evidence
- Maltese: ditektiv — police officer who looks for evidence
- Māori: titeketiwhi — police officer who looks for evidence
- Māori: tekitiwhi — police officer who looks for evidence
- Māori: kairapuhara — police officer who looks for evidence
- Mongolian: мөрдөгч (mördögč) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Norwegian Bokmål: politietterforsker — police officer who looks for evidence
- Norwegian Bokmål: detektiv — police officer who looks for evidence
- Norwegian Nynorsk: politietterforskar — police officer who looks for evidence
- Norwegian Nynorsk: detektiv — police officer who looks for evidence
- Pashto: موشک (mošak) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Pashto: سراغي (sorāǧi) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Iranian Persian: کارْآگاه (kâr'âgâh) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Polish: oficer śledczy — police officer who looks for evidence
- Polish: detektyw — police officer who looks for evidence
- Polish: śledczy — police officer who looks for evidence
- Portuguese: detetive — police officer who looks for evidence
- Romanian: detectiv — police officer who looks for evidence
- Romansh: investigader — police officer who looks for evidence
- Russian: детекти́в (dɛtɛktív) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Russian: сы́щик (sýščik) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Russian: операти́вник (operatívnik) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Russian: сле́дователь (slédovatelʹ) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Russian: ище́йка (iščéjka) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Serbo-Croatian: истра̀житељ — police officer who looks for evidence
- Serbo-Croatian: детѐктӣв — police officer who looks for evidence
- Serbo-Croatian: istràžitelj — police officer who looks for evidence
- Serbo-Croatian: detèktīv — police officer who looks for evidence
- Slovak: detektív — police officer who looks for evidence
- Slovene: detektiv — police officer who looks for evidence
- Slovene: detektivka — police officer who looks for evidence
- Spanish: detective — police officer who looks for evidence
- Spanish: inspector — police officer who looks for evidence
- Swedish: kriminalpolis — police officer who looks for evidence
- Swedish: kriminalare — police officer who looks for evidence
- Swedish: detektiv — police officer who looks for evidence
- Tagalog: tiktik — police officer who looks for evidence
- Tajik: муфаттиш (mufattiš) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Tajik: муфаттиши махфӣ (mufattiš-i maxfi) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Tajik: корогоҳ (korogoh) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Thai: นักสืบ (nák-sʉ̀ʉp) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Turkish: dedektif — police officer who looks for evidence
- Turkish: hafiye — police officer who looks for evidence
- Turkmen: sülçi — police officer who looks for evidence
- Ukrainian: детекти́в (detektýv) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Ukrainian: ни́шпорка (nýšporka) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Ukrainian: сліде́ць (slidécʹ) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Ukrainian: си́щик (sýščyk) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Urdu: جاسُوس (jāsūs) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Urdu: کھوجی (khojī) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Urdu: سُراغی (surāġī) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Urdu: سُراغ رَساں (surāġ rasā̃) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Uzbek: aygʻoqchi — police officer who looks for evidence
- Uzbek: detektiv — police officer who looks for evidence
- Vietnamese: thám tử — police officer who looks for evidence
- Welsh: ditectif — police officer who looks for evidence
- Yiddish: דעטעקטיוו (detektiv) — police officer who looks for evidence
- Armenian: խուզարկու (xuzarku) — person employed to find information
- Bulgarian: разузнава́ч (razuznaváč) — person employed to find information
- Catalan: detectiu — person employed to find information
- Cebuano: detektib — person employed to find information
- Chinese Mandarin: 私人偵探 /私人侦探 (sīrén zhēntàn) — person employed to find information
- Chinese Mandarin: 私家偵探 /私家侦探 (sījiā zhēntàn) — person employed to find information
- Chinese Mandarin: 偵探 /侦探 (zhēntàn) — person employed to find information
- Czech: detektiv — person employed to find information
- Danish: detektiv — person employed to find information
- Danish: privatdetektiv — person employed to find information
- Dutch: detective — person employed to find information
- Dutch: speurder — person employed to find information
- Esperanto: detektivo — person employed to find information
- Esperanto: detektivino — person employed to find information
- Estonian: detektiiv — person employed to find information
- Finnish: yksityisetsivä — person employed to find information
- French: détective — person employed to find information
- French: enquêteur — person employed to find information
- French: enquêteuse — person employed to find information
- Galician: detective — person employed to find information
- German: Detektiv — person employed to find information
- German: Detektivin — person employed to find information
- German: Privatdetektiv — person employed to find information
- German: Privatdetektivin — person employed to find information
- German: Privatermittler — person employed to find information
- German: Privatermittlerin — person employed to find information
- German: Schnüffler — person employed to find information
- German: Schnüfflerin — person employed to find information
- German: Ermittler — person employed to find information
- Greek: ερευνητής (erevnitís) — person employed to find information
- Greek: ιδιωτικός ερευνητής (idiotikós erevnitís) — person employed to find information
- Greek: ντετέκτιβ (ntetéktiv) — person employed to find information
- Greek: ερευνήτρια (erevnítria) — person employed to find information
- Greek: ιδιωτική ερευνήτρια (idiotikí erevnítria) — person employed to find information
- Hebrew: בַּלָּשׁ (balásh) — person employed to find information
- Hebrew: בַּלָּשִׁית (balashít) — person employed to find information
- Hindi: गुप्तचर (guptacar) — person employed to find information
- Hungarian: magánnyomozó — person employed to find information
- Hungarian: detektív — person employed to find information
- Ido: detektivo — person employed to find information
- Indonesian: detektif — person employed to find information
- Irish: bleachtaire — person employed to find information
- Irish: lorgaire — person employed to find information
- Italian: investigatore — person employed to find information
- Italian: detective — person employed to find information
- Italian: investigatrice — person employed to find information
- Japanese: 探偵 (tantei) — person employed to find information
- Japanese: 私立探偵 (shiritsutantei) — person employed to find information
- Korean: 탐정 (tamjeong) — person employed to find information
- Korean: 사립탐정 (sariptamjeong) — person employed to find information
- Latin: inquīsītor — person employed to find information
- Macedonian: истра́жител (istrážitel) — person employed to find information
- Macedonian: и́следник (íslednik) — person employed to find information
- Malay: penyiasat — person employed to find information
- Maltese: spjun — person employed to find information
- Maltese: spjuna — person employed to find information
- Polish: detektyw — person employed to find information
- Portuguese: detetive — person employed to find information
- Romansh: detectiv — person employed to find information
- Russian: сы́щик (sýščik) — person employed to find information
- Russian: детекти́в (dɛtɛktív) — person employed to find information
- Spanish: detective — person employed to find information
- Spanish: investigador privado — person employed to find information
- Swedish: detektiv — person employed to find information
- Thai: นักสืบ (nák-sʉ̀ʉp) — person employed to find information
- Vietnamese: thám tử tư — person employed to find information
- Welsh: ditectif — person employed to find information
- Yiddish: דעטעקטיוו (detektiv) — person employed to find information
Real reading context