What does "detect" mean?
Detect: To uncover; to discover; to find out; to bring to light; as, to detect a crime or a criminal; to detect a mistake in an account. Plain good intention . . . is as easily discovered at the first view, as fraud is surely detected at last. Burke. Like following life through creatures you dissect, You lose it in the moment you detect. Pope.
Additional senses
- 2.To inform against; to accuse. [Obs.] He was untruly judged to have preached such articles as he was detected of. Sir T. More.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00