detective
noun · adjective
Simple meaning
An investigator engaged or use in obtaining information not easily available to the public.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
dihtehktivSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
dɪˈtɛktɪv
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
law enforcement
A police officer who investigates crimes
An investigator engaged or employed in obtaining information not easily available to the public
A person employed to find information not otherwise available to the public.
law enforcement
A police officer tasked with collecting evidence and information in order to solve a crime; an investigator.
adjective
Employed in detecting.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A police officer who investigates crimes
Used this way, detective is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a legal use: the wording is institutional and carries a defined meaning in law rather than a loose everyday one.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Law/legal
- Government/politics
- Academic writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use detective
- “The skilled detective followed every clue to solve the mystery.”
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
One who investigates.
A police officer who investigates crimes.
Synonym of detective ("a police officer tasked with collecting evidence and information in order to solve a crime").
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Any device that receives a signal or stimulus (as heat or pressure or light or motion etc.) and responds to it in a distinctive manner.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
An agency that makes inquiries for its clients.
Novel in which the reader is challenged to solve a puzzle before the detective explains it at the end.
A narrative about someone who investigates crimes and obtains evidence leading to their resolution.
A police investigation to determine the perpetrator.
A private detective employed by a hotel or retail store.
A private detective employed by a hotel or retail store.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: police officer who investigates crimes
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What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.