detect

verb de·tect \ di-ˈtekt , dē- \

|Updated on: 1 Aug 2018

Examples: detect in a Sentence

Definition of detect

transitive verb

1 : to discover the true character of

detecting drug smugglers

2 : to discover or determine the existence, presence, or fact of

detect alcohol in the blood

Do I detect a note of sarcasm in your voice?

3 : demodulate

intransitive verb

: to work as a detective

—

detectability

play \-ˌtek-tə-ˈbi-lə-tē\ noun

—

detectable

play \-ˈtek-tə-bəl\ adjective

See detect defined for English-language learners

See detect defined for kids

Examples of detect in a Sentence

The test is used to detect the presence of alcohol in the blood.
This type of cancer is difficult to detect in its early stages.

Recent Examples of detect from the Web

For us and for other animals, this form of learning is made possible by the networks of neurons in our nervous systems that detect and process the stimuli and mediate our responses.

— katia moskvitch, WIRED, "Slime Molds Remember—But Do They Learn?," 14 July 2018
Microsoft markets technology that can detect faces in photos, as well as facial features like hair color, and emotions like anger or disgust, according to its website.

— New York Times, "Microsoft Urges Congress to Regulate Use of Facial Recognition," 13 July 2018
Last year, the Cassini spacecraft captured an exchange of energy between the two heavenly bodies via sensors that could detect plasma waves.

— joe pappalardo, Popular Mechanics, "Saturn and Its Moon Enceladus Talk To Each Other. The Sound Is Perfectly Cosmic and Eerie.," 10 July 2018
An exam supervisor scans students with a homemade wand that detects cheating devices before the start of a test.

— isabel coles and, WSJ, "Make-or-Break Exams Bring Out the Best and Brightest Cheaters," 5 July 2018
Those updates include facial recognition that would detect a tired driver, for example, and would enable valet parking, Engadget reports.

— rachel becker, The Verge, "Baidu will launch its autonomous buses in Japan next year," 4 July 2018
Realizing the implications of the technology, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is already two years into a four-year program to develop technologies that can detect fake images and videos.

— deb riechmann, The Seattle Times, "I never said that! High-tech deception of ‘deepfake’ videos," 3 July 2018
Mobile operators have fraud detection functions that can detect and react to certain attack scenarios, while several mobile applications and services use enforced HTTPS, which prevents traffic modification.

— dan goodin, Ars Technica, "LTE wireless connections used by billions aren’t as secure as we thought," 29 June 2018
Engineering professor Subith Vasu is working on a device embedded with sensors that can detect levels of specific substances in the air, including the opioids fentanyl and Carfentanil.

— marco santana, OrlandoSentinel.com, "UCF researcher gets $1 million grant to help protect emergency personnel from opioids," 28 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'detect.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.