detect
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.
Ships and coastal radar can detect rapid changes, but only over limited areas.
From Science Daily • Apr. 22, 2026
Pancreatic cancer is hard to detect and aggressive; most people aren’t diagnosed until they are far along.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 21, 2026
Many pancreatic tumors also carry relatively few mutations overall, which makes them harder for the immune system to detect and attack.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 21, 2026
"There are surely planets out there. It's just that they are difficult to detect with current instruments," said co-author Jihad Touma, a physics professor at the American University of Beirut.
From Science Daily • Apr. 19, 2026
The tone of that entry seems lofty, high-minded, but in it I detect a whiff of fatalism.
From "Educated" by Tara Westover
Vocabulary lists containing detect
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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List 9
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