Spy vs Detective - What's the difference?
spy | detective |
A person who secretly watches and examines the actions of other individuals or organizations and gathers information on them (usually to gain an advantage).
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=55, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= To act as a spy.
To spot; to catch sight of.
* Jonathan Swift
* Latimer
To search narrowly; to scrutinize.
* Shakespeare
To explore; to view; inspect and examine secretly, as a country.
* Bible, Numbers xxi. 32
barf (US), vomit, spew
to barf (US), throw up, vomit, spew (also figurative )
(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.
As nouns the difference between spy and detective
is that spy is a person who secretly watches and examines the actions of other individuals or organizations and gathers information on them (usually to gain an advantage) while detective is a police officer who looks for evidence as part of solving a crime; an investigator.As a verb spy
is to act as a spy.spy
English
Noun
(spies)Travels and travails, passage=Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.}}
Derived terms
* spy ringVerb
- During the Cold War, Russia and America would each spy on each other for recon.
- I think I can spy that hot guy coming over here.
- One in reading, skipped over all sentences where he spied a note of admiration.
- Look about with your eyes; spy what things are to be reformed in the church of England.
- It is my nature's plague / To spy into abuses.
- Moses sent to spy Jaazer, and they took the villages thereof.
Derived terms
* spy onSee also
*Anagrams
* ---- ==Norwegian Bokmål==Noun
Verb
Synonyms
* (l)References
* ----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.}}
