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Detective vs Sleuth - What's the difference?

detective | sleuth |

Detective is a synonym of sleuth.



As nouns the difference between sleuth and detective

is that sleuth is an animal’s trail or track while detective is a police officer who looks for evidence as part of solving a crime; an investigator.

As a verb sleuth

is to act as a detective; to try to discover who committed a crime.

detective

English

(wikipedia detective)

Noun

(en noun)
  • (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 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.}}
  • A person employed to find information not otherwise available to the public.

    • 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)

    Related terms

    * detect * detection * detector

    sleuth

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) (Norwegian slo).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) An animal’s trail or track.
  • (archaic) A sleuth-hound; a bloodhound.
  • A detective.
  • * 1908 , (Frank L. Baum), Aunt Jane’s Nieces at Millville
    • Do ye want me to become a sleuth , or engage detectives to track the objects of your erroneous philanthropy?
    Synonyms
    * (detective) detective

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (transitive) To act as a detective; to try to discover who committed a crime.
  • * 1922 , , The Secret Adversary
    • We must discover where he lives, what he does — sleuth him, in fact!
    Synonyms
    * shadow

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) , corresponding to (slow) + (-th).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete, uncountable) Slowness; laziness, sloth.
  • (rare) A collective term for a group of bears.
  • * 1961 , , A Passport Secretly Green , p.89
    • As quietly as if I were practicing to join a sleuth of bears , I crept out the door and went on home, eventually winding up in the garage…
  • * 1995 , , The Girl Sleuth , p.13
    • If these dainty adventurers weren’t being chased by a sleuth of bears or bogeys, they were being captured by Gypsies or thieves.
  • * 2007 , , The Lightkeepers’ Menagerie: Stories of Animals at Lighthouses , p.200
    • From the darkness came the howls of routs of wolves and bands of coyotes, the rumbling growls of a sleuth of bears or the bugles of a gang of elk.
    Synonyms
    * (sloth) idleness, inertia, laziness, lethargy, sloth, slothfulness * (collective term for a group of bears) sloth

    See also

    * sloth *

    Anagrams

    * English collective nouns