detail

French détail, from Old French detail, from detaillier, from de- + taillier (“to cut”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdiːˌteɪl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈdiˌteɪl/, [ˈdiˌtʰeɪɫ], /dɪˈteɪl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪl

detail (countable and uncountable, plural details)

1. (countable) Something small enough to escape casual notice.

   Note this fine detail in the lower left corner.

   We missed several important details in the contract.

2. (uncountable) A profusion of details.
   • 2013 July 19, Timothy Garton Ash, “Where Dr Pangloss meets Machiavelli”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 18:

     Hidden behind thickets of acronyms and gorse bushes of detail, a new great game is under way across the globe. Some call it geoeconomics, but it's geopolitics too. The current power play consists of an extraordinary range of countries simultaneously sitting down to negotiate big free trade and investment agreements.

   This etching is full of fine detail.

3. (uncountable) The small things that can escape casual notice.
   • 2018 May 4, Tom English, “Steven Gerrard: A 'seriously clever or recklessly stupid' Rangers appointment”, in BBC Sport‎:

     Attention to detail was said to be one of the secrets of Gerrard's success as a player.

4. Something considered trivial enough to ignore.

   I don't concern myself with the details of accounting.

5. (countable) A person's name, address and other personal information.

   The arresting officer asked the suspect for his details.

6. (military, law enforcement) A temporary unit or assignment.
7. A part distinct from the whole.
   • 2013 June 7, Gary Younge, “Hypocrisy lies at heart of Manning prosecution”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 18:

     WikiLeaks did not cause these uprisings but it certainly informed them. The dispatches revealed details of corruption and kleptocracy that many Tunisians suspected, but could not prove, and would cite as they took to the streets. They also exposed the blatant discrepancy between the west's professed values and actual foreign policies.

8. A narrative which relates minute points; an account which dwells on particulars.

• (something considered trivial enough to ignore): minutia, technicality, trifle, triviality
• (personal information): particulars
• (military: temporary unit): contingent, detachment

• in detail
• detail-oriented

• deets
• overview
• bird's-eye view
• big picture

detail (third-person singular simple present details, present participle detailing, simple past and past participle detailed)

1. (transitive) to explain in detail

   I'll detail the exact procedure to you later.

   • 2014, Ian Black, "Courts kept busy as Jordan works to crush support for Isis", The Guardian, 27 November 2014:

     It is a sunny morning in Amman and the three uniformed judges in Jordan’s state security court are briskly working their way through a pile of slim grey folders on the bench before them. Each details the charges against 25 or so defendants accused of supporting the fighters of the Islamic State (Isis), now rampaging across Syria and Iraq under their sinister black banners and sending nervous jitters across the Arab world.

2. (transitive) to clean carefully (particularly of road vehicles) ([ˈdi(ː)teɪɫ])

   We need to have the minivan detailed.

3. (transitive, military) to assign to a particular task

• (to explain in detail): specify
• (military: to assign to a particular task): detach

• detailing

• atelid, dilate, tailed

• Audio

  (file)

detail m

1. detail

• podrobnost f

• detailní

• detail in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• detail in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

French détail, from Old French detail, from detaillier, from de- + taillier (“to cut”).

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: de‧tail
• Rhymes: -ɑi̯

detail n (plural details, diminutive detailtje n)

1. detail

• detailhandel