detective

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: de=tec=tive

OXFORD DICTIONARY

detective, n. & adj.
--n. (often attrib.) a person, esp. a member of a police force, employed to investigate crime.
--adj. serving to detect.

Idiom

private detective a usu. freelance detective carrying out investigations for a private employer.

Etymology

DETECT

THESAURUS

detective

Bow Street runner, FBI, FBI agent, Federal, G-man, MP, Secret Service, Sherlock, Sherlock Holmes, T-man, asker, bailiff, beadle, beagle, bound bailiff, captain, catchpole, catechist, chief of police, commissioner, constable, cop, copper, cross-interrogator, cross-questioner, deputy, deputy sheriff, dick, examiner, eye, fed, federal, flic, gendarme, government man, gumshoe, hawkshaw, hotel detective, house detective, house dick, inquirer, inquiry agent, inquisitionist, inquisitor, inspector, interlocutor, interpellator, interrogator, interrogatrix, interviewer, investigator, lictor, lieutenant, mace-bearer, marshal, mounted policeman, narc, officer, operative, opinion-sampler, patrolman, peace officer, peeper, plainclothesman, police captain, police commissioner, police constable, police detective, police inspector, police matron, police officer, police sergeant, policeman, policewoman, poller, pollster, portreeve, private detective, private eye, private investigator, prober, querier, querist, questioner, questionist, quizzer, reeve, revenuer, roundsman, sampler, secret agent, sergeant, sergeant at arms, sheriff, sleuth, snoop, snooper, store detective, superintendent, tec, tipstaff, tipstaves, treasury agent, trooper

ROGET THESAURUS

detective

Information

N information, enlightenment, acquaintance, knowledge, publicity, data, communication, intimation, notice, notification, enunciation, annunciation, announcement, communiqu_e, representation, round robin, presentment, case, estimate, specification, report, advice, monition, news, return, account, statement, mention, acquainting, instruction, outpouring, intercommunication, communicativeness, informant, authority, teller, intelligencer, reporter, exponent, mouthpiece, informer, eavesdropper, delator, detective, sleuth, mouchard, spy, newsmonger, messenger, amicus curiae, valet de place, cicerone, pilot, guide, guidebook, handbook, vade mecum, manual, map, plan, chart, gazetteer, itinerary, hint, suggestion, innuendo, inkling, whisper, passing word, word in the ear, subaudition, cue, byplay, gesture, gentle hint, broad hint, verbum sapienti, a word to the wise, insinuation, information theory, bit, byte, word, doubleword, quad word, paragraph, segment, magnetic media, paper medium, optical media, random access memory, RAM, read-only memory, ROM, write once read mostly memory, WORM, informed, communique, reported, published, expressive, explicit plain spoken, (artless), nuncupative, nuncupatory, declaratory, expository, enunciative, communicative, communicatory, from information received, a little bird told me, I heard it through the grapevine.