## Meanings
1. A police officer whose job is to solve crimes by gathering evidence.
2. A person paid to find information that is not easily available to the public.

## Examples
- The detective questioned everyone who had been at the house.
- They hired a private detective to follow him.

## Synonyms
- beagle
- bloodhound
- det
- dt
- hawkshaw
- investigator
- sherlock
- sleuth
- sleuthhound

## Derived Forms
- antidetective
- cyberdetective
- detectivelike
- dogtective
- nondetective
- superdetective

## Related Forms
- detect
- detection
- detector

## Etymology
The adjective is from Classical Latin dētēct-, past participial stem of dētegō (“to detect”), + -ive. The noun is an ellipsis of detective policeman, detective officer, or a similar construction.

## AI Etymology
For detective, the adjective is from Classical Latin dētēct-, past participial stem of dētegō (“to detect”), + -ive. The noun is an ellipsis of detective policeman, detective officer, or a similar construction. Current senses include A police officer whose job is to solve crimes by gathering evidence and A person paid to find information that is not easily available to the public. English relatives and later formations include antidetective, cyberdetective, detectivelike, detect, detection.

## Topics
- People & Society
- Law & Government

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