detective

• IPA^(key): /dɪˈtɛktɪv/
• Rhymes: -ɛktɪv

detective (plural detectives)

1. (law enforcement) A police officer who looks for evidence as part of solving a crime; an investigator.
   • 1928, Lawrence R. Bourne, chapter 7, in Well Tackled!‎:

     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.

2. A person employed to find information not otherwise available to the public.

• (law enforcement): DT (abbreviation), Det (abbreviation)
• (person employed to find information): private detective, private investigator
• (person employed to find information): (slang) dick, private dick
• sleuth

detective (not comparable)

1. Employed in detecting.

detective m or f (plural detectives)

1. detective

detective m (plural detectives)

1. detective

detective m (plural detectives)

1. Alternative spelling of detetive

From English detective.

• IPA^(key): /deteɡˈtibe/, [d̪et̪eɣˈt̪iβe]

detective m or f (plural detectives)

1. detective

• detective may be masculine or feminine, but the less common detectiva exists for female detectives as well.

• detectivesco

• “detective” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.