The act of discovering or identifying something that is hidden, not obvious, or difficult to notice.
From Latin 'detectus,' past participle of 'detegere,' meaning 'to uncover' or 'to expose.' The prefix 'de-' means 'away' and 'tegere' means 'to cover,' so literally 'uncovering by removing a cover.'
The word 'detect' shares the same Latin root as 'detective'—and the job of a detective is literally to 'uncover' truth by removing the 'cover' of deception, so the word structure tells you exactly what detectives do!
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