Detect, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Detected; p. pr. & vb. n. Detecting.]
1. To uncover; to discover; to find out; to bring to light; as, to detect a crime or a criminal; to detect a mistake in an account. Plain good intention . . . is as easily discovered at the first view, as fraud is surely detected at last. Burke. Like following life through creatures you dissect, You lose it in the moment you detect. Pope.
2. To inform against; to accuse. [Obs.] He was untruly judged to have preached such articles as he was detected of. Sir T. More.
Syn. -- To discover; find out; lay bare; expose.
1 other Webster entry under this spelling
Detect, a.
Detected. [Obs.] Fabyan.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for detect; he lists it under discover.
Where he writes about it:
Of human actions or character, detect is used, almost without exception, in a bad sense; discover may be used in either the good or the bad sense, oftener in the good; he was detected in a fraud; real merit is sure to be discovered. — from discover
In scientific language, detect is used of delicate indications that appear in course of careful watching; as, a slight fluttering of the pulse could be detected. — from discover