detectives
Saydi-TEK-tivz/dɪˈtɛktɪvz/
- 1Plural of detective.
Several detectives were assigned to the case after the third break-in.
The city's homicide detectives meet every morning to review open files.
Note
A regular plural, made with a plain -s, and it covers both kinds of investigator: police officers working a case and people hired to find information the public cannot get. The adjective, meaning employed in detecting, never takes the -s. Before another noun the singular stays put, so it is detective work and detective novels, even when there are many detectives behind them.
detectives is a form of detective
detective, noun: A police officer assigned to gather evidence and information in order to solve crimes. Full entry
- Forms
- detectivedetectives plural
- Spelling
- detective → detectives: add -s
- Sound
- The ending sounds like /z/.
Use it in a sentence
Write your own sentence with detectives, and AI will tell you whether it fits and which meaning you used.