Klryz
Pronunciation guide: IPA symbols, stress and word endings

Vowels

iːseeɪsite / ɛbedæcat
ɑːfatherɒhot (UK)ɔːlawʊput
uːtooʌcupɜːbirdəabout
eɪdayaɪmyɔɪboyaʊnow
əʊ / oʊgo (UK / US)ɪəneareəhairʊətour

Consonants that look unusual

θthinðthisʃsheʒmeasure
tʃchurchdʒjudgeŋsingjyes

p b t d k g f v s z h m n l r w sound as in ordinary English spelling.

Marks

  • ˈ main stress, before the stressed syllable: /ˈwɔːtə/ water · ˌ lighter (secondary) stress: /ˌʌndəˈstænd/ understand
  • ː a long vowel · (r) an r said only in accents that pronounce it (most American, Scottish, Irish)

Common word endings

  • -s / -es (plurals; he/she form of verbs): /s/ after voiceless sounds (cats), /z/ after voiced (dogs), /ɪz/ after s, z, sh, ch, j sounds (buses, watches). Spelling: -es after s, x, z, ch, sh; consonant + y → -ies (city → cities).
  • -ed (past): /t/ after voiceless sounds (walked), /d/ after voiced (played), /ɪd/ after t or d (wanted). Spelling: love → loved, stop → stopped, carry → carried.
  • -ing: make → making, run → running, see → seeing.
  • Irregular: go, went, gone · be, was, been · see, saw, seen · man → men · child → children · mouse → mice.
  • Older (King James) forms: -eth = -s (he loveth = he loves) · -est with “thou” (thou lovest) · spake = spoke.

English Dictionary · 107,383 entries · Sources & licences

detective

/dɪˈtɛktɪv/ noun, adjective, verb

Forms detectives detectiving detectived

  1. noun (law enforcement) A police officer tasked with collecting evidence and information in order to solve a crime; an investigator. “He worked as a detective with the agency for five years.”
  2. noun A person employed to find information not otherwise available to the public.
  3. noun (non-native speakers' English, rare) A work of detective fiction.
  4. adjective Employed in detecting.
  5. verb (intransitive) To be or act as or like a detective.
  6. verb (transitive) To investigate or find information about (someone or something) as or like a detective.

Synonyms

inspector police detective sleuth DT Det Det. private detective private investigator bloodhound Dick Tracy Hercule Poirot Jessica Fletcher Miss Marple Sherlock dick private dick gumshoe beagle hawkshaw investigator tec

Etymology

The adjective is from Classical Latin dētēct-, past participial stem of dētegō (“to detect”), + -ive. By surface analysis, detect + -ive.
Noun sense 1 is an ellipsis of detective policeman, detective officer, or a similar construction. The later more general noun sense 2 was derived by extension. The verb is also from the noun.
Noun sense 3 (“a work of detective fiction”) is a semantic loan from Dutch detective and Russian детекти́в (detektív), both from English.

Webster’s 1913

  1. adjective Fitted for, or skilled in, detecting; employed in detecting crime or criminals; as, a detective officer.
  2. noun One who business it is so detect criminals or discover matters of secrecy.

Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “detective”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details