detection

noun de·tec·tion \ di-ˈtek-shən \

Updated on: 10 May 2018

Definition of detection

1 : the act of detecting : the state or fact of being detected

2 : the process of demodulating

See detection defined for English-language learners

Examples of detection in a Sentence

I don't know how the errors managed to avoid detection for so long.
my detection of the scent of baked apple pie led me to the kitchen

Recent Examples of detection from the Web

Image Of the puppies rescued in 2005 from a farm in Medellín, Colombia, and saved from fates as international drug couriers, one, a Rottweiler, was adopted by the Colombian National Police and trained as a drug-detection dog, investigators said.

— New York Times, "Veterinarian Charged With Smuggling Heroin Inside Puppies," 1 May 2018
Bot accounts and fans also post unlicensed songs -- often sped up or slowed down just enough to avoid detection by YouTube's own internal rights-tracking system, Content ID, that many copyright owners rely on to monetize their works.

— nick williams, Billboard, "How This Startup Is Finding Millions in Unclaimed YouTube Revenue For Artists and Labels," 20 Apr. 2018
Carol Gudbrandsen, a cybercrimes analyst with the Lake County state's attorney office, talks about Browser, a 1 1/2-year-old Labrador who is the office's new electronics detection dog.

— john keilman, Lake County News-Sun, "Dogs that can sniff out electronic devices enlisted in the fight against child porn," 19 Apr. 2018
Turner then uploaded the images to the internet using public Wi-Fi in order to avoid detection, the attorney's office added.

— fernando alfonso iii, Houston Chronicle, "Children's hospital window washer who dressed as Spiderman to be jailed 105 years for child porn," 19 Apr. 2018
As Zoli visibly works his stubby tail off, nowhere else in the U.S. are as many airport passengers screened with detection dogs than as at Orlando International, where security times sometimes approach an hour.

— kevin spear, OrlandoSentinel.com, "Orlando International Airport tops for bomb dogs," 13 Apr. 2018
Murray managed to avoid detection despite a massive warrant sweep in the city in January and February, in which federal, state and local authorities arrested hundreds of people with open warrants.

— kevin rector, baltimoresun.com, "Baltimore man charged with murder after avoiding arrest for seven months," 9 Apr. 2018
The district employee was told to download the emails to an external hard drive to avoid detection.

— yihyun jeong, azcentral, "Scottsdale schools may settle with Superintendent Denise Birdwell," 5 Apr. 2018
To avoid detection, the Chon Ma San's North Korean flag was painted over and the 3's in its international identification number changed to 8's.

— NBC News, "North Korea uses pirate tactics to earn millions from sanction busting," 17 Mar. 2018

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