detective
n. countablen. a person whose job is to find information and solve crimes. They look for clues to find out who did something wrong.
n. a person, typically a member of a police force, whose function is to investigate crimes and gather information. Often used as a title before a surname.
The detective looks for clues at the house.
After interviewing several witnesses, the detective realized that the suspect had a solid alibi for the night of the robbery.
While uniform officers secured the perimeter, the lead detective meticulously documented the placement of every item in the room to reconstruct the sequence of events.
The adjective is from Classical Latin dētēct-, past participial stem of dētegō (“to detect”), + -ive. The noun is an ellipsis of detective policeman, detective officer, or a similar construction.
Often used as an attributive noun or a formal title, such as 'Detective Miller'.