Standard Lemma guide

sleuth

noun · verb · 8 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

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.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /sluːθ/
  • General-American: /sluːθ/
  • rhymes with -uːθ
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: S L UW1 TH Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A detective.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • 1908, Edith Van Dyne (Frank L. Baum), Aunt Jane’s Nieces at Millville Do ye want me to become a sleuth, or engage detectives to track the objects of your erroneous philanthropy?

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: detective, gumshoe, investigator, dick, private eye

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A sleuthhound; a bloodhound.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: archaic

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

An animal’s trail or track.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

Slowness; laziness, sloth.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: idleness, inertia, laziness, lethargy, sloth, slothfulness

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

A group of bears.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: collective, rare

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: sloth

Antonyms: none provided

6

verb

Meaning 6

To act as a detective; to try to discover who committed a crime, or, more generally, to solve a mystery.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: ambitransitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: gumshoe, shadow, get to the bottom of, solve, work out, absolve, decipher, iron out, meliorate, puzzle out, ravel, reason out, resolve, riddle, sleuth, tease out, think out, unpuzzle, unravel, unriddle, unsolve, upsolve, Any from Thesaurus:untangle

Antonyms: none provided

7

noun

Meaning 7

a detective who follows a trail

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: sleuthhound

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: detective

8

verb

Meaning 8

watch, observe, or inquire secretly

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: spy, stag, snoop

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: monitor, supervise

History

Etymology

Clipping of sleuthhound.

From Old English slǣwþ, corresponding to slow + -th.

Across languages

Translations

51 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: جَاسُوس (jāsūs) — detective
  • Arabic: جَاسُوسَة (jāsūsa) — detective
  • Bulgarian: детектив (detektiv) — detective
  • Catalan: detectiu — detective
  • Czech: detektiv — detective
  • Dutch: speurder — detective
  • Dutch: speurneus — detective
  • Dutch: detective — detective
  • Dutch: detectief — detective
  • Dutch: rechercheur — detective
  • Finnish: etsivä — detective
  • Finnish: yksityisetsivä — detective
  • French: détective — detective
  • Georgian: მაძებარი (maʒebari) — detective
  • German: Schnüffler — detective
  • German: Spürnase — detective
  • German: Detektiv — detective
  • Greek: λαγωνικό (lagonikó) — detective
  • Hungarian: rendőrkopó — detective
  • Hungarian: kopó — detective
  • Hungarian: nyomozó — detective
  • Hungarian: detektív — detective
  • Indonesian: reserse — detective
  • Indonesian: detektif — detective
  • Italian: investigatore — detective
  • Norwegian: detektiv — detective
  • Persian: مفتش — detective
  • Persian: کارآگاه — detective
  • Persian: جاسوس — detective
  • Portuguese: detetive — detective
  • Romanian: detectiv — detective
  • Romanian: copoi — detective
  • Russian: сы́щик (sýščik) — detective
  • Russian: ище́йка (iščéjka) — detective
  • Serbo-Croatian: detektiv — detective
  • Serbo-Croatian: tragač — detective
  • Spanish: detective — detective
  • Swedish: deckare — detective
  • Swedish: snok — detective
  • Swedish: detektiv — detective
  • Czech: vyšetřovat — act as a detective
  • Dutch: naspeuren — act as a detective
  • Dutch: schaduwen — act as a detective
  • German: nachspüren — act as a detective
  • German: untersuchen — act as a detective
  • German: beschatten — act as a detective
  • German: schnüffeln — act as a detective
  • Italian: mettersi sulle tracce — act as a detective
  • Russian: высле́живать (vysléživatʹ) — act as a detective
  • Swedish: spana — act as a detective
  • Swedish: skugga — act as a detective