Word
TEC
Phoneticstec
/ˈtɛk/
Definition
n. a slang word for a detective. It is a short way of saying 'detective' that you might hear in old crime movies or read in books.
n. a colloquial or slang term for a detective. Derived as a clipping of 'detective', it is primarily found in mid-20th-century hardboiled fiction and noir cinema.
Examples
“The private tec followed the suspect through the rain.”
“He hired a local tec to find out who had been sending the anonymous letters to his office.”
“While modern police procedurals focus on forensic science, the classic noir novel often centers on a lone tec navigating the city's corrupt underbelly with nothing but a trench coat and a hunch.”
Examples
simple
“The private tec followed the suspect through the rain.”
contextual
“He hired a local tec to find out who had been sending the anonymous letters to his office.”
complex
“While modern police procedurals focus on forensic science, the classic noir novel often centers on a lone tec navigating the city's corrupt underbelly with nothing but a trench coat and a hunch.”
Usage
Informal and somewhat dated; typically used in the context of crime fiction or historical slang.
Domain
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/tec