detective: meaning and words from its letters
9 letters · 15 letter points · starts with D · ends with E
Meaning of detective
noun
A police officer tasked with collecting evidence and information in order to solve a crime; an investigator.
Example: He worked as a detective with the agency for five years.
A person employed to find information not otherwise available to the public.
- rare
A work of detective fiction.
Listed forms: detectives.
Source: Wiktionary — detective.
adj
- not-comparable
Employed in detecting.
Source: Wiktionary — detective.
verb
- informal, intransitive, uncommon
To be or act as or like a detective.
- informal, transitive, uncommon
To investigate or find information about (someone or something) as or like a detective.
Listed forms: detectives, detectiving, detectived.
Source: Wiktionary — detective.
Adapted from Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki.org. Selected senses and forms; quotations omitted. Definition text is CC BY-SA 4.0.
Synonyms by meaning
Words are grouped by sense, so they are not necessarily interchangeable in every context. Search synonyms for detective.
noun
a police officer who investigates crimes
- investigator
- tec
- police detective
Open English WordNet Team, 2025, derived from Princeton University WordNet; selected synonym groups under CC BY 4.0. Source · OEWN notice · Princeton notice.
Is detective in our word lists?
| Word list | Status |
|---|---|
| American English | Found |
| British English | Found |
| Extended English | Found |
These are spelling-list matches, not official game validity checks. Check the rules and dictionary used by your game.
Letter-value score of detective
D(2) + E(1) + T(1) + E(1) + C(3) + T(1) + I(1) + V(4) + E(1) = 15 points.
This is a sum of letter values without board bonuses or word multipliers. A blank tile is worth zero: subtract the value of each letter supplied by a blank. The score does not establish game validity. Full letter-value table.
Anagrams of detective
0 other standard-list words use exactly these letters, including repeated letters.
No other single-word anagram was found in our standard list.
Shorter words from detective
58 shorter standard-list words can be made using no letter more often than it occurs in detective. Showing up to 24, longest first.