Definitions for detective
dɪˈtɛk tɪvde·tec·tive

Princeton's WordNet(3.00 / 2 votes)Rate this definition:

1. detective, investigator, tec, police detectivenoun

   a police officer who investigates crimes

2. detectivenoun

   an investigator engaged or employed in obtaining information not easily available to the public

Wiktionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. detectivenoun

   a police officer who looks for evidence as part of solving a crime; an investigator.

2. detectivenoun

   a person employed to find information not otherwise available to the public.

Webster Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Detectiveadjective

   fitted for, or skilled in, detecting; employed in detecting crime or criminals; as, a detective officer

2. Detectivenoun

   one who business it is so detect criminals or discover matters of secrecy

Freebase(5.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. Detective

   A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes". Informally, and primarily in fiction, a detective is any licensed or unlicensed person who solves crimes, including historical crimes, or looks into records.

Matched Categories

1. • Investigator
   • Policeman

British National Corpus

1. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'detective' in Written Corpus Frequency: #4837

2. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'detective' in Nouns Frequency: #1483

How to pronounce detective?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say detective in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of detective in Chaldean Numerology is: 1

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of detective in Pythagorean Numerology is: 3

Examples of detective in a Sentence

1. Rush Hour:

   Carter Please tell me you speak English. I'm Detective Carter. Do you speaka any English Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth

2. Katherine Ramsland:

   My initial impression of Dennis Rader was that Dennis Rader wanted to challenge me, and what surprised me was the fact that there was n’t anything in Dennis Rader background that would correspond with the typical formula we have of serial killers. I recently heard a detective say that all serial killers have trauma in their background. He was wrong about that.

3. Julie Rendelman:

   Now they are questioning [Evans’s] credibility, and the credibility of the detective who was investigating the case. When you’re the D.A., you’d better be dotting your I’s and crossing your T’s. You don’t want something like this coming.”

4. Rainn Wilson:

   I can relate to someone whose life is falling apart, and they are doing the best to get by, using humor to survive, backstrom really wears his heart on his sleeve and his life is unraveling… I would much rather hang out with that person than a slick procedural detective who has all the answers… it’s human, it’s frail, it’s interesting.

5. Detective Leslie Branch-Wise:

   I just want people to know that I'm Detective Leslie Branch-Wise, I have children, and I'm a victim of sexual harassment, it made me physically sick. It was extremely scary. And I dealt with it at that time the best way that I could.

Popularity rank by frequency of use