DETECTOR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does detector mean? 

• DETECTOR (noun)
  The noun DETECTOR has 3 senses:

1. any device that receives a signal or stimulus (as heat or pressure or light or motion etc.) and responds to it in a distinctive manner

2. rectifier that extracts modulation from a radio carrier wave

3. electronic equipment that detects the presence of radio signals or radioactivity

  Familiarity information: DETECTOR used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DETECTOR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any device that receives a signal or stimulus (as heat or pressure or light or motion etc.) and responds to it in a distinctive manner

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

detector; sensing element; sensor

Hypernyms ("detector" is a kind of...):

device (an instrumentality invented for a particular purpose)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "detector"):

metal detector (detector that gives a signal when it detects the presence of metal; used to detect the presence of stray bits of metal in food products or to find buried metal)

mine detector (detector consisting of an electromagnetic device; used to locate explosive mines)

electric eye; magic eye; photocell; photoconductive cell; photoelectric cell (a transducer used to detect and measure light and other radiations)

trace detector (a screening device for traces of explosives; used at airline terminals)

Derivation:

detect (discover or determine the existence, presence, or fact of)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Rectifier that extracts modulation from a radio carrier wave

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

demodulator; detector

Hypernyms ("detector" is a kind of...):

rectifier (electrical device that transforms alternating into direct current)

Holonyms ("detector" is a part of...):

radio; radio receiver; radio set; receiving set; tuner; wireless (an electronic receiver that detects and demodulates and amplifies transmitted signals)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Electronic equipment that detects the presence of radio signals or radioactivity

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("detector" is a kind of...):

electronic equipment (equipment that involves the controlled conduction of electrons (especially in a gas or vacuum or semiconductor))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "detector"):

crystal detector (a detector consisting of a fine wire in contact with a galena crystal; acts as a rectifier)

electronic scanner; scanner (a radio receiver that moves automatically across some selected range of frequencies looking for some signal or condition)

Holonyms ("detector" is a part of...):

radio; radio receiver; radio set; receiving set; tuner; wireless (an electronic receiver that detects and demodulates and amplifies transmitted signals)

Derivation:

detect (discover or determine the existence, presence, or fact of)

 Context examples 

The physical distance between a radiation source and the detector plane.

(Distance Source to Detector, NCI Thesaurus)

A CO detector can warn you if you have high levels of CO in your home.

(Carbon Monoxide Poisoning, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Dawn's gamma ray and neutron (GRaND) detector observed evidence that Ceres had accelerated electrons from the solar wind to very high energies over a period of about six days.

(Ceres' Geological Activity, Ice Revealed in New Research, NASA)

The gravitational waves were detected on September 14, 2015 by both of the twin Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors, located in Livingston, Louisiana, and Hanford, Washington, USA.

(Gravitational Waves Detected 100 Years After Einstein's Prediction, NASA)

Measured or calculated distance from the X-Ray source to the detector plane in the center of the beam.

(Distance Source to Detector, NCI Thesaurus/DICOM)

The acquisition of images of an anatomic area that is being irradiated using radiotherapy beams and an electronic detector.

(Electronic Portal Imaging, NCI Thesaurus)

In medicine, a technique that uses low power light, fiberoptic instruments, and detectors to examine tissue.

(Optical spectroscopy, NCI Dictionary)

Nanocantilevers coated with antibodies, for example, will bend from the mass added when substrate binds to its antibody, providing a detector capable of sensing the presence of single molecules of clinical importance.

(Nanocantilever, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

A data acquisition approach in which detector counts are stored sequentially as scan time progresses.

(List Mode, NCI Thesaurus)

A spectrometer that applies some form of energy to a substance, thereby causing emission of electromagnetic radiation which is then quantified using a detector.

(Emission Spectrometer, NCI Thesaurus)