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.
“You can’t detect all of them,” the user wrote before sending a few screenshots proving the case.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026
It can help detect cancer at an early stage when there are no symptoms and when treatment is more effective.
From BBC • Mar. 31, 2026
"It's always hard to be 100 percent, but we can detect more than 90 percent of what's happening in real time."
From Barron's • Mar. 31, 2026
Future experiments may be able to detect these signals, giving scientists a rare opportunity to test ideas about the universe's quantum beginnings.
From Science Daily • Mar. 30, 2026
“This isn’t anything you would detect, walking on it.”
From "Mountain of Fire" by Rebecca E. F. Barone
From Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.
