detective
de·tec·tive (dē tek′tiv, di-)
adjective
- of or for detection
- of detectives and their work
noun
Etymology: short for detective policeman
a person on a police force, whose work is investigating and trying to solve crimesEtymology: short for private detective
a person working privately to investigate crimes, gather information, etc.
detective
n.
Converse of object
- bumble: He ran away from home, and created a new identity working as an assistant for bumbling detective Kuruma Jo.
- hire: Equipment is available at a fraction of the cost of hiring a Private detective which can give you all the evidence that you need!
- urge: Alan urges the detective to follow up certain leads he perceives.
- assign: Inspector Frederick George Abberline was the Scotland Yard detective assigned to lead the on-the-ground investigation into the ' Ripper ' murders.
Adjective modifier
- fictional: Sherlock Holmes, the fictional detective in Arthur Conan Doyle's books, was a regular cocaine user.
- existential: Utterly distraught and questioning the meaning of life: Albert seeks the help of a bizarre husband-and-wife team of existential detectives.
- amateur: He had just left the room in which I sat with Basil Grant and his brother Rupert, the voluble amateur detective.
- retired: Stewart plays a retired police detective who becomes swept up in a complex crime and falls for the wrong woman.
- budding: A crime scene, as any budding detective might inform you, must be secured lest the DNA and forensic evidence be contaminated.
- psychic: The other program that I featured in dealt with psychic detectives.
Modifies a noun
- sergeant: The unit will consist of a detective sergeant who will have four detective constables working under him.
- fiction: Slim, well crafted detective fiction you can polish off in a few hours.
- constable: Mr Hunt also faces two charges of making threats to kill a detective constable on September 29.
- superintendent: He was promoted sergeant after four years and served in every rank in CID up to and including detective superintendent.
- novel: A detective novel, really, with a fair amount of careful detail.
- inspector: The second case involved a detective inspector with severe visual impairment who had been unsuccessful at a previous assessment center.
Noun used with modifier
- homicide: In Kiss the Girls: Washington-based homicide detective Alex Cross is thrust into a case he will never forget.
- consulting: Stamford Holmes is a reluctant consulting detective in a modern age where the crimes are mundane, not offering challenge.
- pulp: This novel is essentially a ripping yarn yet it somehow stands apart from typical pulp detective writing.
- police: Lea Moore is a police detective in Oakland, California.
The detective novel isthe classic example of a specialized form of art removed from contact with the life it pretends to build on.
The No.1Ladies' Detective Agency.
I thought that writing a detective story would be a wonderful apprenticeship because, whatever people tell you, a crime novel is not easy to write well. As I continued with my craft I became increasingly fascinated by the form and realized that you can use the formula to say something true about men and women and the society in which they live.
Browse dictionary entries near detective
- Detection or Intrusion Detection
- detection
- detectible
- detectaphone
- detectable
- detect
- detasselling
- detasselled
- detasseling
- detasseled
- detective novel
- detective story
- detector
- detent
- detente
- detention
- detention home
- deter
- deterge
- deterged
