Thesaurus.com
Dictionary.com
Definitions

detect

[dih-tekt] / dɪˈtɛkt /


Usage

What are other ways to say detect?

To detect implies becoming aware of something that had been obscure, secret, or concealed: to detect a flaw in reasoning. To ascertain is to verify facts by inquiry or analysis: to ascertain the truth about an event. To learn is to add to one's knowledge or information: to learn a language. The verb discover is used with objective clauses as a synonym of learn in order to suggest that the new information acquired is surprising to the learner: I discovered that she had been married before. 


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

At London Tech Week 2026, then Prime Minister Keir Starmer said technology companies would be expected to detect and block nude images on children's devices, or face legislation.

From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026

Quorum sensing allows bacteria to detect how many neighboring cells are present and coordinate group behaviors.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 7, 2026

"It can be very difficult to accurately detect AI-generated content."

From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026

"We're able to take them off, concentrate them and then detect them and see what's present within them."

From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026

Colonel was known for his ability to detect even the slightest nod or gesture from bidders.

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann

The 82-year-old is the brains behind the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, a telescope embedded in a cubic kilometer of Antarctic ice that detects neutrinos -- particles with almost no mass that seldom interact with other matter.

From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026

Belgian physicist Prof Francis Halzen has won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his pioneering work on an observatory that detects particles from space, shedding light on the distant universe.

From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026

RBC also detects that during major drawdowns, confidence and sentiment gauges move sharply with readings like the National Federation of Independent Business and the American Association of Individual Investors dropping sharply.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 28, 2026

Overdiagnosis occurs when screening detects a breast cancer that would never have become life-threatening or caused symptoms during a woman's lifetime.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 26, 2026

The limbic system is the part of the brain that detects things in the environment that we should pay attention to and sends an emotional signal about what to do in response: Avoid!

From "The 57 Bus" by Dashka Slater

The error detected the computer was overloaded, and for a moment it looked like the complex landing might not be achieved.

From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026

"No health disorders associated with infectious pathology were detected," it said, adding that "the results of almost 5,000 laboratory tests did not reveal any dangerous pathogenic microorganisms".

From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026

Investigators in Seoul said the attacks, initially detected last week, hit at least seven South Korean financial firms and showed traces of a cybersecurity tool called Artex AI that was developed in China.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026

The researchers say the findings add to growing concern about colorectal cancer appearing more often in young people and frequently being detected at an advanced stage.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 6, 2026

Dill detected the trace of uncertainty in her voice, much as she may have tried to mask it.

From "The Serpent King" by Jeff Zentner

Halzen first presented his vision for detecting neutrinos at the South Pole in 1988.

From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026

Then there's this, he said: AI models are getting better and better at detecting when they are being tested and might behave differently when they are actually deployed, fooling their masters.

From Barron's ● Oct. 3, 2026

“The bond market and consumers may be detecting economic stress earlier than equities,” the CIO says.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026

"This suggests that they are detecting the particle motion associated with sound even at considerable distances from the source -- something we have not previously been able to demonstrate in free-swimming sharks."

From Science Daily ● Sep. 30, 2026

The Eagle wheeled around, his sixth sense detecting Insubordination To Authority Figures.

From "Looking for Alaska" by John Green




Vocabulary lists containing detect


Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Dictionary.com's Learning Companion

Go beyond just looking up words.
Remember them forever with VocabTrainer.

Start training