What does detect mean?

Definitions for detect
dɪˈtɛktde·tect

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word detect.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. detect, observe, find, discover, noticeverb

    discover or determine the existence, presence, or fact of

    "She detected high levels of lead in her drinking water"; "We found traces of lead in the paint"

Wiktionary

  1. detectverb

    to discover or find by careful search, examination, or probing

  2. Etymology: From detectus, perfect passive participle of detegere, from de- + tegere; see tegument, tile, thatch

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. To DETECTverb

    To discover; to find out any crime or artifice.

    Etymology: detectus, Latin.

    There’s no true lover in the forest, else sighing every minute and groaning every hour, would detect the lazy foot of time as well as a clock. William Shakespeare, As you like it.

    Though should I hold my peace, yet thou
    Would’st easily detect what I conceal. John Milton, Paradise Lost.

Wikipedia

  1. Detect

    A sensor is a device that produces an output signal for the purpose of sensing a physical phenomenon. In the broadest definition, a sensor is a device, module, machine, or subsystem that detects events or changes in its environment and sends the information to other electronics, frequently a computer processor. Sensors are always used with other electronics. Sensors are used in everyday objects such as touch-sensitive elevator buttons (tactile sensor) and lamps which dim or brighten by touching the base, and in innumerable applications of which most people are never aware. With advances in micromachinery and easy-to-use microcontroller platforms, the uses of sensors have expanded beyond the traditional fields of temperature, pressure and flow measurement, for example into MARG sensors. Analog sensors such as potentiometers and force-sensing resistors are still widely used. Their applications include manufacturing and machinery, airplanes and aerospace, cars, medicine, robotics and many other aspects of our day-to-day life. There is a wide range of other sensors that measure chemical and physical properties of materials, including optical sensors for refractive index measurement, vibrational sensors for fluid viscosity measurement, and electro-chemical sensors for monitoring pH of fluids. A sensor's sensitivity indicates how much its output changes when the input quantity it measures changes. For instance, if the mercury in a thermometer moves 1 cm when the temperature changes by 1 °C, its sensitivity is 1 cm/°C (it is basically the slope dy/dx assuming a linear characteristic). Some sensors can also affect what they measure; for instance, a room temperature thermometer inserted into a hot cup of liquid cools the liquid while the liquid heats the thermometer. Sensors are usually designed to have a small effect on what is measured; making the sensor smaller often improves this and may introduce other advantages.Technological progress allows more and more sensors to be manufactured on a microscopic scale as microsensors using MEMS technology. In most cases, a microsensor reaches a significantly faster measurement time and higher sensitivity compared with macroscopic approaches. Due to the increasing demand for rapid, affordable and reliable information in today's world, disposable sensors—low-cost and easy‐to‐use devices for short‐term monitoring or single‐shot measurements—have recently gained growing importance. Using this class of sensors, critical analytical information can be obtained by anyone, anywhere and at any time, without the need for recalibration and worrying about contamination.

ChatGPT

  1. detect

    Detect generally refers to the act of discovering or identifying the presence or existence of something. This can involve the use of senses, instruments, or other methods to notice or find out something that may not be immediately obvious or visible.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Detectadjective

    detected

  2. Detectverb

    to uncover; to discover; to find out; to bring to light; as, to detect a crime or a criminal; to detect a mistake in an account

  3. Detectverb

    to inform against; to accuse

  4. Etymology: [L. detectus, p. p. of detegere to uncover, detect; de + tegere to cover. See Tegument.]

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Detect

    de-tekt′, v.t. (lit.) to uncover—hence to discover: to find out.—adjs. Detect′able, Detect′ible.—ns. Detect′er, -or, one who detects: an apparatus for detecting something, as a detector-lock, which shows if it has been tampered with; Detec′tion, discovery of something hidden: state of being found out.—adj. Detect′ive, employed in detecting.—n. a policeman employed in the investigation of special cases of crime, or in watching special classes of wrong-doers, usually not in uniform.—Private detective, one employed by a private person to gain information, or to watch his interests. [L. detectum, detegĕrede, neg., and tegĕre, tectum, to cover.]

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British National Corpus

  1. Verbs Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'detect' in Verbs Frequency: #526

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

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Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of detect in Chaldean Numerology is: 7

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of detect in Pythagorean Numerology is: 3

Examples of detect in a Sentence

  1. Bryan Holler:

    This is a fantastic result which highlights the capabilities of MIRI to serendipitously detect a previously undetectable size of asteroid in the main belt, repeats of these observations are in the process of being scheduled, and we are fully expecting new asteroid interlopers in those images!

  2. Mario Damasso:

    In my opinion, the detection is particularly interesting because the signal in the radial velocities has a low amplitude and a long period, therefore in principle not easy to detect and confirm with a single technique, we are exploring the consequences of a longer-term spectroscopic follow-up in another work we hope to publish soon.

  3. Henry David Thoreau:

    Time is but the stream I go a-fishin in. I drink at it, but while I drink I see the sandy bottom and detect how shallow it is. It's thin current slides away, but eternity remains.

  4. Robert Cohen:

    That’s why it is important to have those medications prescribed by a health care provider who will be following along closely enough to detect that and determine when changes are needed.

  5. Scientist Dennis McAuley:

    There is no scientific basis to it. It's a complete fraud, if authorities are putting any reliance on this to detect explosives, it's ludicrous. It's unbelievable they are still using this.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

detect#1#7029#10000

Translations for detect

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"detect." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2025. Web. 7 Feb. 2025. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/detect>.

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