Word.ws English Dictionary

detectograph

detectograph noun: an early audio recording device used in wiretaps.

Noun

detectograph (plural detectographs)

  1. An early audio recording device used in wiretaps.
    • There were no stenographers and no detectographs in those days, and there is no record of this interview, fraught with such tremendous benefit to Germany and all Europe[…]1914, United States Congress, Congressional edition
    • […]it is taken for granted that the discussions are not significant, otherwise we might consider the advisability of capturing these golden words by the installation of detectographs throughout the club house.1915, Journal of the Engineers' Society of Pennsylvania, volume 7

Forms of detectograph

pluraldetectographs

Origin of detectograph

From detect + -o- + -graph. Possibly originally a trademark.

Questions about detectograph

What does detectograph mean?
Detectograph means an early audio recording device used in wiretaps.
What part of speech is detectograph?
Detectograph is a noun.
What is the plural of detectograph?
The plural of detectograph is detectographs.

Words near detectograph in the dictionary

  1. detectivelike
  2. detectives
  3. detectiving
  4. detectivities
  5. detectivity
  6. detectograph
  7. detectographs
  8. detector
  9. detector bar
  10. detector bars
  11. detector van

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: detectograph (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “detectograph.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/detectograph. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.