detect
Pronunciation: /dɪˈtɛkt/
VERB
[WITH OBJECT]
1Discover or identify the presence or existence of:cancer may soon be detected in its earliest stages
More example sentences
- 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
More example sentences
- 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.
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).
Words that rhyme with detect
affect, bisect, bull-necked, collect, confect, connect, correct, defect, deflect, deject, direct, effect, eject, elect, erect, expect, infect, inflect, inject, inspect, interconnect, interject, intersect, misdirect, neglect, object, perfect, project, prospect, protect, reflect, reject, respect, resurrect, sect, select, subject, suspect, transect, unchecked, Utrecht
How my heart speaks 