detective worknoun [ U ]
uk/dɪˈtek.tɪv ˌwɜːk/us/dɪˈtek.tɪv ˌwɝːk/the activity of searching for information about something, often over a long period:
After a lot of detective work, I managed to find out where he was living.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Searching
- a needle in a haystack idiom
- beachcomber
- bounty hunter
- burrow
- cast around
- dig
- drag
- nose
- pick
- pick through sth
- poke
- poke around
- quest
- seek
- trail
- turn a place inside out idiom
- turn sth upside down idiom
- wanted
- wild-goose chase
- witch hunt
See more results »