Word Type

Noun

Adjective

The word "detective" can be used as noun and adjective.

Word Relationships

Capable Of

case building case joint catch criminal catch suspect find eveidence find facts from witnesses find missing person follow suspect gather evidence hunt for clues miss clue nail criminal note clues notice clue piece one clue together with another piece together clues question suspect question witness spot criminal tail cheating husband tail person tail suspect tail suspect husband trust instinct

Derived Terms

antidetective cyberdetective detective chief inspector detective chief superintendent detective constable detective gag detective inspector detective sergeant detective story detective superintendent detective work detectivelike dogtective house detective nondetective private detective store detective stump detective superdetective woman detective constable

Derived From

detect

Desires

catch criminals

Context

law enforcement

Broader Terms (Hypernyms)

investigator officer police officer

Narrower Terms (Hyponyms)

PI cyberdetective cybersleuth eye house detective house dick private detective private dick private eye private investigator shamus snoop superdetective superdick supersleuth

Type Of (IsA)

human investigator legal agent person policeman worker

Related Terms

detect detection detector

Related Terms

available bowler bowler hat clues crime designation detect detection detector discover discover clues employed evidence eye finding finding things glass hat information investigator magnifying magnifying glass man occupation officer person police police designation police investigator police man police profession policeman private private eye profession professional public shows solving spy tv tv shows

Synonym Network

dt private detective sleuth

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.