Meaning of detective | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A police officer tasked with collecting evidence and information in order to solve a crime; an investigator
2. A police officer tasked with collecting evidence and information in order to solve a crime; an investigator.
3. A person employed to find information not otherwise available to the public
4. A person employed to find information not otherwise available to the public.
5. A person, usually a member of a police force, who investigates crimes and obtains evidence or information.
6. Employed in detecting
7. A person whose work is investigating crimes or obtaining hidden evidence or information:investigator, sleuth.
8. to notice or discover. She thought she could detect a smell of gas. bespeur يَكْتَشِف откривам detectar objevit, zjistit entdecken mærke; opdage εντοπίζω, αντιλαμβάνομαιdetectar, sentir tajuma, tabama پی بردن به؛ کشف کردن havaita détecter לְגָלוֹת पकड़ पाना detektirati felfedez menemukan uppgötva, átta sig á scoprire 見つける 찾아내다 susekti, aptikti atklāt; uziet; atrast; uztvert kesan bespeurenfornemme, merke, oppdage wykrywać, odkrywać موندل، څرګندول، كشفول sentir a detecta уловить zistiť odkriti...
9. a person who tries to find criminals or watches suspected persons. She was questioned by detectives. speurder مُخْبِر، بوليس سِرّي детектив detetive detektiv der Detektiv opdager; detektiv; kriminalassistent ντετέκτιβdetective detektiiv کارآگاه etsivä policier/-ière; détectiveבלש जासूस detektivi nyomozó detektif leyni-/rannsóknarlögreglumaður detective, investigatore, investigatrice 探偵, 刑事 탐정, 형사 seklys detektīvs detektif rechercheurkriminalbetjent, detektiv wywiadowca خبرشوی detective detect...
10. Of or relating to detectives or their work: detective novels.
11. Suited for or used in detection.
12. (Professions) a. a police officer who investigates crimes
13. used in or serving for detection
14. serving to detect
15. a police officer or a private investigator whose function is to obtain information and evidence, as of illegal activity.

Equivalents

Examples

“He worked as a detective with the agency for five years.”

“The detective kept them in view. He made his way casually along the inside of the shelter until he reached an open scuttle close to where the two men were standing talking. Eavesdropping was not a thing Larard would have practised from choice, but there were times when, in the public interest, he had to do it, and this was one of them.”

“[…] Sherlock Holmes remarked calmly. […] "Well, I have a trade of my own. I suppose I am the only one in the world. I'm a consulting detective, if you can understand what that is. Here in London we have lots of Government detectives and lots of private ones. When these fellows are at fault they come to me, and I manage to put them on the right scent. They lay all the evidence before me, and I am generally able, by the help of my knowledge of the history of crime, to set them straight. There is a strong family resemblance about misdeeds, and if you have all the details of a thousand at your finger ends, it is odd if you can't unravel the thousand and first.[…]"”

“Had they responded this way in France or America, this wouldn't have surprised me, but wasn't everyone in England supposed to be a detective? Wasn't every crime, no matter how complex, solved in a timely fashion by either a professional or a hobbyist? That's the impression you get from British books and TV shows. Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple, Hetty Wainthropp, Inspector George Gently: they come from every class and corner of the country. There’s even Edith Pargeter's Brother Cadfael, a Benedictine monk who solved crimes in twelfth-century Shrewsbury. No surveillance cameras, no fingerprints, not even a telephone, and still he cracked every case that came his way.”

CEFR level