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View synonyms for detector

detector

[ dih-tek-ter ]

noun

  1. a person or thing that detects.
  2. a device for detecting smoke, fire, or some other hazardous condition.
  3. a device for detecting the presence of metal, contraband, or other items that might be hidden or concealed.
  4. Telecommunications.
    1. a device for detecting electric oscillations or waves.
    2. a device, as a crystal detector or a vacuum tube, that rectifies the alternating current in a radio receiver.


detector

/ dɪˈtɛktə /

noun

  1. a person or thing that detects
  2. any mechanical sensing device
  3. electronics a device used in the detection of radio signals
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Word History and Origins

Origin of detector1

1535–45; < Late Latin dētēctor revealer, equivalent to Latin dēteg ( ere ) to uncover, reveal ( detect ) + -tor -tor
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Example Sentences

After bouncing off tissue and blood, the particles of light return to detectors that measure oxygen levels.

To do that, you have to find your own way toward hope—there’s no better insincerity detector than a little kid.

From Time

The bollards and the metal detectors at every door didn’t stop them.

Terpenoid detectors might cue an octopus to quickly grasp something it touches before it swims away — or to let go and keep searching.

Sensed by the IceCube detector in Antarctica, the neutrino carried 200 trillion electron volts — about 30 times as much energy as that of a proton accelerated by the Large Hadron Collider.

The Enquirer story was written by Robin Mizrahi, who interviewed Ferrier and had arranged for her to take a lie detector test.

She agreed to meet with tabloid editors in New York City and take a lie detector test to back up her claims.

If you recall, Chase took a lie detector test and he passed.

He bent the truth throughout his life to ensure that he was known as the man who had invented the lie detector test.

She acts as a sort of lie detector, but proceeds through elegant narrative rather than binary test.

Peering at the proximity detector, Cragley announced that we were quite safe from a collision.

Not even the Gerns had ever been able to devise a polarized detector screen.

And, since the frequency was so high, a special detector was required to pick it up.

Then he looked at the distance recorded on the meteor detector.

Hollingwood, the metallurgist, appeared, dragging with him the detector.

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