detect
/dɪˈtɛkt
/verb [with object]
1Discover or identify the presence or existence of: cancer may soon be detected in its earliest stages...
- As soon as the immune system detects the presence of a pathogen it mounts a response to kill it, which is highly successful in most cases in healthy people.
- In truth, she had thought that they would have detected each other's presence sooner.
- If he detects the presence of drugs on someone we could then go ahead and search them.
1.1Discern (something intangible or barely perceptible): Paul detected a faint note of weariness in his father’s voice...
- Mr Hutchence says staff first detected a faint smell the day before - but on Wednesday it was much stronger.
- I could barely detect the horseradish in the creamy bed of mashed potato, a more generous grating would have perked it up.
- She fancied for a moment that she could detect the faint rusty smell of hot steel.
Synonyms
notice, become aware of, perceive, note, discern, make out, observe, spot, become conscious of, recognize, distinguish, mark, remark, identify, diagnose;
catch, decry, sense, see, catch sight of, smell, scent, taste
British informal clock
literary behold, descry, espy
1.2Discover or investigate (a crime or its perpetrators): the public can help the police to detect crime...
- The system had to be radically reformed to detect murder, medical error and neglect.
- We want to prevent the crimes and detect those that have already been committed.
- Even the fact that there is the ability to detect murder before it is committed is a complex issue.
Synonyms
discover, uncover, find, find out, turn up, unearth, dig up, dredge up, root out, hunt out, nose out, ferret out, expose, reveal, bring to light, bring into the open;
come across, stumble on, chance on, hit on, encounter
solve, clear up, get to the bottom of, find the perpetrator of, find the person behind
informal figure out, crack
catch, hunt down, find, expose, reveal, unmask, smoke out, ferret out, track down, apprehend, arrest
informal nail
Origin
Late Middle English: from Latin detect- 'uncovered', from the verb detegere, from de- (expressing reversal) + tegere 'to cover'. The original senses were 'uncover, expose' and 'give someone away', later 'expose the real or hidden nature of'; hence the current (partly influenced by detective).