as in investigator
a person not on the police force who investigates criminal or illicit activity or searches for missing persons
the code used by the serial killer in his letters to the police was actually cracked by an amateur detective
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Recent Examples of detective
The streamer also released a handful of first-look images of Rian Johnson’s mystery-of-the-week series, which stars Natasha Lyonne as a de facto detective who has an extraordinary ability to tell when someone’s lying.
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Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 25 Feb. 2025
After spending years in the grime of East London making Luther, the dark cop drama starring Idris Elba as a homicide detective with some very nasty personal demons, Cross was ready for something light and sunny.
—Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 24 Feb. 2025
And, a detective had allegedly manipulated the recording of Morant’s audio statement, and also threatened witnesses, according to the National Registry of Exonerations.
—Yash Roy, CNN, 23 Feb. 2025
Repeating this painstaking detective work enough times helps reveal patterns among young cancer patients, giving Ogino and his team clues as to what may have caused their diseases.
—Jamie Ducharme, TIME, 13 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for detective
Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 25 Feb. 2025
After spending years in the grime of East London making Luther, the dark cop drama starring Idris Elba as a homicide detective with some very nasty personal demons, Cross was ready for something light and sunny.
—Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 24 Feb. 2025
And, a detective had allegedly manipulated the recording of Morant’s audio statement, and also threatened witnesses, according to the National Registry of Exonerations.
—Yash Roy, CNN, 23 Feb. 2025
Repeating this painstaking detective work enough times helps reveal patterns among young cancer patients, giving Ogino and his team clues as to what may have caused their diseases.
—Jamie Ducharme, TIME, 13 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for detective
Articles Related to detective
Cite this Entry
“Detective.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/detective. Accessed 3 Mar. 2025.
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