Detective vs Agent - What's the difference?
detective | agent |
(law enforcement) A police officer who looks for evidence as part of solving a crime; an investigator.
* {{quote-book, year=1928, author=Lawrence R. Bourne
, title=Well Tackled!
, chapter=7 A person employed to find information not otherwise available to the public.
One who exerts power, or has the power to act; an actor.
One who acts for, or in the place of, another (the principal), by authority from him; one intrusted with the business of another; a substitute; a deputy; a factor.
An active power or cause; that which has the power to produce an effect; as, a physical, chemical, or medicinal agent ; as, heat is a powerful agent.
(computing) In the client-server model, the part of the system that performs information preparation and exchange on behalf of a client or server. Especially in the phrase “intelligent agent” it implies some kind of autonomous process which can communicate with other agents to perform some collective task on behalf of one or more humans.
(grammar) The participant of a situation that carries out the action in this situation, e.g. "the boy" in the sentences "The boy kicked the ball" and "The ball was kicked by the boy".
As nouns the difference between detective and agent
is that detective is detective (police officer who looks for evidence) while agent is agent (intermediary for certain services, such as for artistic performances or public relations).detective
English
(wikipedia detective)Noun
(en noun)citation, passage=The detective kept them in view. He made his way casually along the inside of the shelter until he reached an open scuttle close to where the two men were standing talking. Eavesdropping was not a thing Larard would have practised from choice, but there were times when, in the public interest, he had to do it, and this was one of them.}}
Synonyms
* (law enforcement) DT (abbreviation), Det (abbreviation) * (person employed to find information) private detective, private investigator * (person employed to find information) dick , private dick :(slang)Derived terms
* (sense) detective constable (DC) * (sense) detective sergeant (DS) * (sense) detective inspector (DI) * (sense) detective chief inspector (DCI) * detective story * (sense) detective superintendent () * (sense) detective chief superintendent (DCS) * house detective * private detective * woman detective constable (WDC)agent
English
(wikipedia agent)Noun
(en noun)- Heaven made us agents , free to good or ill. --Dryden.
- I see in him [Moby Dick] outrageous strength, with an inscrutable malice sinewing it. That inscrutable thing is chiefly what I hate; and be the white whale agent , or be the white whale principal, I will wreak that hate upon him. --Herman Melville, , ch. 36